A Year in the Life
by Wind Lane
Summary: Time always seems to pass us by in chunks. One moment lasts a week, the next only half of a second. A snapshot collection of some of those moments.
1. February

A/N In the immortal words of the great English writer, s'up? So, being still alive and all, I decided I needed to get back to my keyboard and write something. And since I've had this idea for a while I thought that I should be putting pen (read: computer) to paper (read…it's good for your brains). It's not an original concept, but I do believe I have an original angle for it. Let me know what you think. Flames are appreciated as I have no idea what it's like to be threatened or harassed since I'm about six and a half feet tall and nearly three hundred pounds. Who knew that having a daunting stature would help you to be left alone on the bus?

Disclaimer – Well, here we are again; just you, me, and the screen. Come on, baby. Cuddle up a little closer. You know I'd give you anything if you asked for it, but...why a hamster? Why is it always a hamster!? I just don't understand. What do you mean this is supposed to be a disclaimer? Who cares that I don't own the Teen Titans!? This is about you, me, and the sweet, sweet love we have!

But I'm not getting you that hamster.

A Year In The Life – February – Can you keep a secret? So can I. (Groucho Marx)

--

It was a dark and stormy night as the sun shone brightly through the windows of Raven's room. Now normally one wouldn't expect to be assaulted by such paradoxical circumstances except that it was impossible for it to be anything other than dark and stormy and night with the turmoil that was currently brewing inside of Raven's head. To the uninitiated, she appeared to just be staring off into space as she stood in her doorway. To anyone who actually had a clue, Raven was fully catatonic.

As it was, there were currently four people, clues in hand, desperately trying to snap her out of it. It was Cyborg who succeeded where others had failed by simply saying he would see if there was anything in her room that might help bring her around.

And although she hardly moved, Raven did quite clearly say, "Stay out of my room."

Cyborg smiled serenely in response. "Thought that might work…so, you gonna tell us what happened now?"

"Yes, Raven, what has had you doing the space staring?" Starfire asked as she swooped close to Raven's face; I don't think she ever understood the concept of personal space.

Quickly seeking to regain her aloof nature she calmly answered, "What?" as she leaned away from the engaging alien.

"Well," Robin said, sounding cautious, "the pizza just showed up and when I came to get you, you were just standing there, looking dazed, and I couldn't get you to come out of it."

"The rest of us just came to see what was taking so long." Cyborg added giving her a look that implied it was her turn to explain.

"I was meditating, it's a new technique," she quickly invented as she edged back into her room, "I'll be down after I finish."

Robin's "but…" was answered by the soft click of the door closing.

From just inside her room, Raven was listening for the retreating footsteps to fall silent before she pulled the real reason she had impersonated a statue from the inner recesses of her cloak. In one hand was a short, typed letter and in the other was a small figurine of a beautiful woman dressed in armor riding a powerfully built stallion, her sword pointing the way of her charge, suggesting she was leading soldiers into battle.

She placed it on her dresser and hesitantly turned her attention back to the note. She had already gone through it once, almost casually, and was now reading it again, though much more carefully. Holding it almost reverently, Raven tried desperately to see if the offending piece of paper had really said something different then what she had thought from her first time through.

_Raven,_

_I wanted to show you how much I like you and I decided to do it with some letters and gifts. The woman represents the courage you show in all of our fights. I hope that you like it._

_Your Secret Admirer_

She stared accusingly at the last two words of the letter as if they had single-handedly tried to ruin her comfortable routine. She thought it had been going so well lately too, weeks since anything had caused her even the slightest slip in control and she had even found herself able to enjoy life to the point where a smile wasn't so rare anymore. The letter on the other hand served as an abrupt reminder of an area of normal teenage life she had been ignoring and it made her nervous.

With the initial shock wearing off, Raven started to study the letter a little more closely to look for clues about who had sent it. She noted that it said 'our' fights and that the writing had a similar sound to the way Robin spoke, but quickly dismissed him since he was dating Starfire. She thought that Cyborg would have typed it up since that was how he always wrote things but considered the figurine a little too…dainty for him. And since it didn't have any mistakes or stains or anything at all that would point the finger at a sloppy style, she started to eliminate Beast Boy from the realm of possibilities.

There was the little figure to factor in though. Raven could remember a shop that sold things like it next to a vegan restaurant; the same restaurant that Beast Boy had once tried to trick them all into eating at. She set the letter down, finding it more confusing than helpful and decided to head down to lunch and wait for whoever did it to give themselves away. Then she would let them down as easily as she could. It was just safer.

--

Pizza in Titans Tower, through years of heavy conflict and forceful politicking, had finally become a more civilized affair. Rather than argue about what toppings to get or to go with one person's choices while others suffered through them, an arrangement had been made where each person would pick one topping for the pizza and everyone would just pick off anything they didn't like. This worked out well as what was picked off one person's pizza was usually added to another's. Beast Boy would get plenty of tofu, Cyborg would get extra meat, Raven would get more mushrooms, and Starfire would get extra everything since Robin only wanted cheese.

It was after this exchange of toppings that Raven found herself eying her male friends subtly from her seat at the table as they all ate. She would watch one of them for a small while, trying to picture them buying her gifts or writing her little letters, and only found the activity flustering as her cheeks started to grow warm with the picture of Beast Boy handing her flowers running through her mind. Whoever it was didn't give anything away and she just watched the three boys fight over the last slice, feeling slightly annoyed. She decided to let it go when something else caught her attention. A receipt was lying on the ground and she knew that the one for the pizza was still taped to the box. It had also been at least a week since anybody went shopping.

The scrap of paper silently took flight and came to rest in a hand she was holding under the table. She hazarded a glance at it only to be disappointed in seeing that it was for Beast Boy's dry cleaning; he had finally outgrown the habit of allowing his laundry to continually build until it was declared a biohazard.

Having a slight hope dashed is the stuff that life is made of and Raven was fairly used to life, yet finding another dead-end made her more annoyed than she had expected it to. It also didn't help matters that her mind chose that moment to remember that whoever this person was, they were threatening more presents.

Raven got up from the table, tired of being so close to someone hiding in plain sight and threw her paper plate into the trash, with the receipt neatly hidden inside it. She made her way back out of the room with every intention of heading to the roof for some meditation in the hope that she could get herself back to normal.

As she reached the stairs that made up the last barrier between her and the peace of the open air she heard the soft coo of Starfire's voice, "Raven?"

She turned to look behind her and watched as the redhead floated closer looking slightly nervous. Starfire interpreted the silence as an invitation to say what she wanted and continued.

"You are feeling well?"

Raven quirked an eyebrow at the overly mundane question; small talk wasn't Starfire's style, "Fine, why?"

Starfire began poking the tips of her index fingers together, watching to make sure they connected as she answered. "Your behavior has not been normal today. You are acting quiet…" - feeling Raven's inquiring look she brought her eyes up - "...more quiet than is normal. And you were watching the others strangely during the pizza."

"And?" Raven asked, willing Starfire to either leave or get to the point.

"You are my friend and I wish to help with what is troubling you."

Sometimes getting to the point isn't nearly as helpful as it could be. Raven sighed deeply and gave Starfire a gauging sideways glance. "You'd keep it to yourself? No asking Robin what any of this means even if I don't want to explain it?"

Starfire smiled hopefully, surprised at Raven's quickly given confidence. Normally the process would take several minutes and involve a lot of needling on her part. "I would treasure it with all of the girl talk that is only ours!"

Raven watched her closely for any hint of a lie, but it was Starfire and if anyone was as disinclined to lying as she was, they'd already been made a saint. She deflated some as her normal habit of keeping things to herself fully faded. "I have a secret admirer."

Starfire cocked her head to one side. "And you are saddened by this?"

She sighed. "Not really, I'm just confused. I mean, which of them would do it? I didn't think any of them liked me like that."

"Which of them?" Starfire parroted, sounding slightly thrown off.

"Well," Raven said, sounding embarrassed, "I think it's either Beast Boy or Cyborg." She regretted having voiced her opinion as soon as she saw Starfire's amused smile.

"What has made you guess it was one of them?"

The laughter behind her question made Raven scowl. "It's one of them because there isn't anybody else who fits."

An even more infuriatingly buoyant Starfire really did laugh this time. "You have found the proof?"

Raven looked like she was having second thoughts about continuing, but decided to press on in the hopes that Starfire had some insight that she had overlooked; which she often did in these matters. "The present they left is from a shop next to one of Beast Boy's favorite restaurants and the letter that came with it is…" and her eyes went slightly out of focus as she stared off into space.

"It is what?" Starfire asked looking captivated, but still smiling.

"It's Beast Boy."

"It is?"

"It has to be. Cyborg wouldn't give me a present he bought, he'd make it himself," a startled Raven answered.

"That is true," said a thoughtful looking Starfire.

"And Robin's…" Raven stopped herself and looked in a slightly panicked manner at Starfire from the corner of her eye. Everyone knew it was dangerous to even slightly suggest that Robin would have an interest in another woman around the fiery redhead. It didn't help Raven's sense of wellbeing that Starfire's smile seemed suddenly forced. It was quite a good thing that her brain, in a first-rate example of self-preservation, quickly gave her what to say to diffuse the situation before anything could happen. "Robin's been seeing you so much that I don't think he's even noticed me in months and I wouldn't want it to be him anyway, he's not my type…at all."

Starfire's smile went from plastic back into the much safer, and saner, natural one as Raven let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in. "Then it is Beast Boy because it cannot be any of the other boys?"

"Right."

"It is a bad thing for it to be Beast Boy? You still do not seem pleased."

Raven opened her mouth but shut it again as she started to give more thought to the question. Would it really be all that bad a thing for Beast Boy to do? "But it's Beast Boy," she found herself saying, as though it would explain everything.

Starfire's smile softened some as she soothed Raven by saying, "I do not think you give him the credit. He led us when Robin was captured. I do not think he is a child anymore."

"Could've fooled me."

"Yes, I believe he has." And Starfire smirked a little as Raven took a more thoughtful pose. "I am not sure you are correct in who is your admirer of secrets, but you should not drop friend Beast Boy."

Raven looked confused for a moment as she translated. "You mean 'put down', Star. I shouldn't put him down." Starfire nodded and started to leave as Raven sat in the air to think. "Thanks for listening, Starfire."

"You are welcome." And with one last smile she left Raven to her thoughts.

--

Over the next three days Raven found a gift and a short letter each morning waiting just outside her door. And with each passing day she found herself a little more convinced of who had left the gifts and slightly less apprehensive about it. The second present had been a jewelry box, not hand made, but simple and elegant. Its note had said that it was how the admirer viewed Raven; simple and elegant in appearance and made for beautiful things to be kept in. She'd blushed for several minutes after reading the slip of paper and again for several minutes more the next time she saw Beast Boy.

The third gift was puzzling as it was only an ornately carved block with picturesque fields and flowers on all sides of it. It rattled slightly when she shook it, but didn't seem to have any openings. The letter said that it represented how difficult it could be to get to the inner Raven, but that there was treasure there that made the difficulty worthwhile. Raven later learned that it was a Chinese puzzle box with a small gold heart inside after she dusted off a piece of lint and accidentally found the first of several sliding pieces.

The fourth gift was just a purple teddy bear that exactly matched the color of her hair. The note had been the shortest of them all by just saying that her hair was cool. It was this gift that gave Raven the most problems. Not in the 'so touched that someone would notice' sort of way but more in the 'this isn't my sort of thing' way. She'd had a fierce internal debate on whether or not the bear should be thrown into the back of her closet with the giant chicken or left out in a less disrespectful, yet still less noticeable location. She'd opted for the latter because of the kind thought it stood for.

So, when Raven awoke on the fifth day of her personal adventure she opened her door quietly and leaned down to pick up whatever had been left. The sight of a letter by itself made her disappointed for only a moment as she reminded herself that she wasn't even sure she felt the same way about the changeling.

She smiled as she walked the note, the first she had received in an envelope, back to her bed. The past few days had been revealing to say the least. Since her talk with Starfire she had started to pay attention to Beast Boy and found that her idea of him had become largely outdated.

He still tried to be funny, but had thankfully dropped the habit of repeating every lame joke he heard. He'd still play video games for unhealthy amounts of time; he just didn't whine when he lost and didn't gloat when he won. And he'd still argue about the benefits of a meatless diet, except now he had tact and a volume control. In short…he was maturing and in a lot of good ways.

Out of habit Raven still hadn't laughed at any of the funny things he'd said, but she had at least smiled in appreciation more than once and been caught doing so. And to further her belief that he was finally growing up he'd just smiled in return.

Raven was amusedly remembering how Beast Boy had called Gizmo 'Charlie Brown' because they were both bald as she opened the letter and started to read.

_Raven,_

_I've enjoyed giving you all these things to show you how much you mean to me. I hope that you have liked them. I want to tell you who I am and I will tonight when we meet at the end of pier 39. I'll see you at seven!_

_Your Secret Admirer_

_p.s. Your normal clothes will be fine._

As comfortable as Raven had become in being doted on now that the conclusion had arrived she found herself at a crossroads. One lane leading onward that would let her see where this path laid out with affection led and the cross street of rejection with crass and cold to the left and gently down to the right.

And being Raven, she opted for the safest of all roots and took a right.

Finding Beast Boy would be her first task since sooner was always better than later. And since it was still somewhat early in the day the most logical place he would be was in bed.

Raven marched as determinedly as hovering half a foot off the ground would allow straight to the boy's door. She knocked on it smartly and waited for the sounds of someone clumsily getting off of a bed accompanied by the shifting of clutter as a path to the door was stumbled on. Not hearing any of this Raven knocked a little harder and called his name. When the noises that were supposed to come didn't she opened the door.

The horror of a mess that greeted Raven was, to her astonishment, severely lacking in horror and mess. To be more correct, the room was spotless. And much to her annoyance there was also a general deficiency in Beast Boys about the place. She heard herself comment that he must have gone down for breakfast, agreed with herself on the concept, and made her way to the common room.

The common room was much less empty than Beast Boy's room had been, but it had a lot of the same problems. Cyborg was happily frying what looked like a full side of bacon while Robin and Starfire sat as close as was possible without being on top of each other as they talked quietly. But the common room, like the bedroom had been, was empty of shape shifters.

The others would have stayed unaware of Raven's hunting if she had only picked routes that didn't have her going repeatedly past them as she checked one place after another. Robin had asked Cyborg what he thought she was looking for and Cyborg had merely shrugged while looking amused. Starfire had a devious little smile on her face but quickly hid it before anyone could notice.

"What're you looking for, Rae?" Cyborg asked from the couch as she started to cross to another section of the tower. "Lose a book?"

"Has anyone seen Beast Boy?" The direct approach, usually effective at finding out what you want to know, but not always helpful in keeping quiet about what you don't want to tell.

"He left pretty early, something about stuff he had to get ready in town. Why? What'd he do?"

"Nothing, I just needed to talk to him." And if she wasn't so distracted, she might have noticed how curious it was that she hadn't felt embarrassed about admitting it. Instead, she decided to widen her search.

--

An entire day is a long time to search for something and not find it. Raven was feeling the weariness that comes from fruitless toil and had resigned herself to wait at the tower until close to seven, and if she didn't see her missing teammate by then, she would just have to tell him at their meeting.

And as she sat thinking about what she might say to diffuse the situation without losing a friend her mind painted a picture of a young man with unusual features, with flowers in hand, greeting a young woman with purple hair out by the ocean. The painting showed a beautiful sunset in the distance and a picnic style dinner still in its basket near a bench that overlooked the waves. And since paintings of the mind are always fluid and never fully dry the picture showed the man being charming and kind, the young woman would blush at a comment and he would look happier at the sight.

Raven woke from her daydream with a start and saw that it was already time for her to leave. She then felt her worry increase as her resolve to continue with her plan seemed suddenly clouded with pastels and oils.

I am sure it has been said before, but the ability to pass through dimensional wormholes to shorten trips from several minutes to a few seconds is always going to be useful. Raven arrived at the pier with ten minutes to spare and found less than she had expected. The only other people there were a pair of fishermen enjoying the piece that comes with fishing.

The bench she had envisioned was present, as was the sunset. Now, she would just have to wait and see what fate had in mind for the young man.

Fate was wondering what she would do about the young man herself when reality intervened and provided the appropriate conclusion.

Raven was again starting to daydream about flowers and picnics that last till the moon is full when she heard someone calling her name. She looked up expectantly and was blindsided by the sight of Starfire standing in front of her smiling slightly sadly.

"Starfire? What happened? Where's Beast Boy?"

Starfire's smile saddened as she quietly answered. "He is not coming."

"But…he was supposed to meet me. He left a note." Raven was aware how disappointed she sounded and found that it only added to her apprehension about the meeting that seemed to have turned sour.

Starfire sat down next to Raven with a kind, nearly motherly smile. "No, Raven. He did not."

"But it has to be him!" She was nearly shouting she felt so agitated. "It couldn't possibly be any of the others."

"That is true." Raven was about to voice her exasperation about how letters didn't tend to write themselves when Starfire cut her off. "It was me."

And suddenly it was a dark and stormy night again, though not nearly as bad as the first one of the week had been. Her mind freed itself this time, its desire for explanation quickly dispatching the shock. "You left the letters? But…what about Robin? And, uhm, I don't really like girls, uh, like…"

"Raven, calm yourself. I am not doing the hitting of you."

Raven opted against correcting her. "Then why did you leave them? That's what secret admirers are for."

Starfire stared off a little ways towards the sunset as she spoke. "I did not think it was wrong for me to show my admiration."

"It isn't, it's just…strange." Raven smiled at the comment and then at herself. "Which means that it's the perfect thing for you to do."

Starfire smiled in reply and settled into the bench a little more.

"Robin helped you with the letters."

"Yes."

"And Cyborg typed them up and left the gifts so that there wouldn't be anything left behind for me to find."

"Yes, and Beast Boy knew of many good stores."

Raven looked at her with a little snark mixed into her gentle smile. "You let me think it was him."

"You did not suspect me; I could not help you do the figuring out," she said with a bashful sideways glance. "You have one more present. I did not plan for it, but I give it gladly."

"Oh?"

And Starfire suddenly seemed her most giddy self while still sitting comfortably. It caused Raven to notice how much she had matured as well. "You like friend Beast Boy."

"Of course I like him, he's my friend just like…" Raven took a longer look at the girl smiling up at the sky next to her. "You mean like how you like Robin."

"No. I do not think that you love him, but you are…" She paused as she searched for the right wording, wanting it to be said without corrections needed. "…attracted to him?"

Raven blanched a little, which is impressive for someone who is so pale to begin with. She would have denied everything if she hadn't caught the amused look Starfire was giving her. "Fine, so maybe he's not as bad as he used to be."

"What will you do about him?"

Raven gave a sigh as she thought. "I'll wait for him to do something…not that he will. It worked for you, didn't it?"

"I would suppose it did. Though Beast Boy is not Robin."

They sat there each in their own thoughts for a while before Raven got up. "It's getting late, we should go home." Starfire stretched as she rose into the air and nodded. And as Raven rose up in front of her she turned back. "Thanks, Star."

--

A/N Well, there ya go. First installment of this here new fic I'm workin' on. I do appreciate reviews, but I prefer that you only give them if you have something to say that equates to more than a four word sentence. I think you all have a bit of a surprise for how this fic will progress, and I mean more than just the whole month to month thing.


	2. March

A/N I watched "You've Got Mail" the other day and confirmed to myself what I'd believed for a while now: I'm a bit of a romantic. And what that means is that I think about doing romantic things but don't carry them out. Mostly because I don't date (Thirty year old fanfic author not dating? I know! It's weird.), but still, no follow through. Raven of Alaska, I don't give spoilers. :-)

Disclaimer – The Teen Titans are a group of five super-powered teenagers who fight for justice, and I don't believe in slave or child labor, so I don't own them. We should all boycott Warner Brothers for doing that to children…to CHILDREN!!

A Year In The Life – March – Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade? (Bob Merrill)

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It was a bright and sunny day as Beast Boy strode into the common room with as much swagger as his skinny little frame could manage. Sure he had grown, but it was so hard to tell when everyone else you lived with was growing too. Well, everyone except Cyborg. The one measuring stick in the whole tower still towered over him by at least a foot. The only good news was that it wasn't two feet anymore.

It was that same technological teen that noticed Beast Boy's inflated nature and grinned as his friend pretended to be showing off the muscles of a much more daunting figure than he possessed. "Alright, I'll bite. You finally get a date or something?" It went unnoticed, but Raven seemed to have stopped in her reading at this point. More noticeable was that Robin and Starfire had looked over to hear the answer.

"Dude, it is so much better than a date. I..." And here Beast Boy paused for dramatic effect; it nearly worked. "...get to be the grand marshal for the Saint Patrick's Day parade!" Seeing as how everyone still looked a little under whelmed he clarified. "Come on! They had Green Lantern last year and the Hulk the year before that and Green Archer before him! It is so totally cool I get to do it this year!"

"But you've been in lots of parades. They had one in almost every city we went to after we caught the Brain."

Beast Boy waved his hand dismissively at Cyborg's offhanded comment. "Yeah, yeah, but this one is just me. I get to do it by myself. That totally rocks."

"I remember when Green Lantern came in." Robin had finally decided to join the conversation. "He was kinda stiff, you know? Stuck in soldier mode, but at least he talked to us like we were equals."

"See? It's a cool thing, and it's the first time people are gonna see me as me and not just as part of the group."

"You do not wish to be a Titan anymore?" Starfire asked with slight worry. And since it was slight in Starfire's range of emotions it meant that it was with a quaver in her voice and a glossing of the eyes in preparation for the tears that would surely follow if her fears weren't alleviated.

"No! No, nothing like that, Star." Beast Boy said waving his hands. "It's just that I'm always the kid of the gang. This is like when I got my driver's license. It's something else that shows I'm not that kid anymore."

Robin laughed and quickly stopped to explain himself to a now glaring changeling. "I'm not laughing at you, Beast Boy...well, okay, I am, but not the way you think. You led the Titans when we finally caught the Brain and freed everybody who'd been captured at the same time. I don't think I could've called you a kid for over a year now…not really anyway."

"Me neither, dawg. I mean, you'll always be a little grass stain, but that's just 'cause we kinda grew up together."

Beast Boy smiled, but it slipped away almost as soon as it appeared. "Yeah, but that's you guys. You're my friends; you're supposed to do that stuff. It's like I get to prove it to the rest of the world."

"So let's go the whole nine yards then." Robin always did have an overly expressive face when he wanted to use it. How else could you show that you were planning something with just a look in your eyes when you wore a mask? "We'll make you leader of the Titans for Saint Patrick's Day and we'll all walk in front of your float or whatever as a kind of honor guard."

"Oh Robin that is a wonderful idea!" Starfire said gliding forward happily.

"You'd do that?" And when Robin nodded the corners of Beast Boy's mouth made for the top of his head. "This is the most awesome thing ever…Dude, I am so not pranking you for at least a month."

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The days that followed were filled with the usual crime fighting that comes from living in a large city that constantly needs your help. Mixed into this everyday life were bits and nuggets of the upcoming celebration. An official looking package had arrived a week before the parade from the mayor's office that had some general guidelines to follow as well as tips on how to ride a float. They were providing a large flatbed style platform for Beast Boy to use so that he could shape shift as they went down the main route.

Starfire had somehow managed to talk Robin (and through him the others as well) into wearing uniforms so that they looked the part of a distinguished honor guard. The mayor had loved the idea of the other Titans being in the parade and quickly had them in charge of bearing the grand marshal's sign. Cyborg had been the most difficult in getting to wear a uniform, not because he protested, but because his had needed to be custom made and took three times as much material as the other's.

I'd like to talk about how excited everyone was or about how funny it was to watch Beast Boy trying to act as much the part of the dignified honoree as he could, but that's not what happened. As the parade neared Beast Boy had instead become increasingly nervous and nitpicked over every detail until he had caused most of his teammates to lose what enjoyment they were taking in the festivities; except for Robin who seemed oddly pleased with the whole ordeal. Most likely because the things nitpicked over were things that his overly keen eye kept spotting as well.

When the actual parade date arrived and everyone found their places in the procession after a quick word or two with the parade manager, the fun and excitement of the thing returned. Beast Boy had been told that the platform that made up his float had been specially brought in so that he could change into pretty much anything due to its extremely high weight tolerance.

He couldn't help but smile like a child in a toy store near Christmas as he climbed up onto the float. The uniforms that the other Titans were wearing looked perfect. He couldn't believe they'd even talked Raven into ditching her cloak to don the military style uniform that had been specially made to be the same color as his hair. He laughed to himself when he caught her looking embarrassed as he stared.

The blast of a bullhorn announced that it was time to start things up and the four Titans walking in front of the float took up their banner and led the procession out from behind city hall to Main street.

Wanting to make a big entrance Beast Boy shifted into a polar bear and let out as loud a roar as he could. The crowd went instantly insane and screamed for more. If there's one thing Beast Boy was addicted to, it was attention, and the people lined along the parade route were gladly giving him his fix as he showed off to their applause.

Beast Boy was feeling giddy with the cheers and elated that his friends were enjoying themselves too. He'd seen Robin and Starfire waving at anyone who called out to them and Cyborg had somehow gotten his sonic cannon to shoot candy to several of the children they'd passed. He even caught Raven smiling back at him a few times after particularly loud "ooh"s and "ahh"s from the audience.

He'd managed to catch her eye after a little girl had called out "kitty" at the green tiger she saw. She looked radiant to him until he realized that it was the glare from the explosion going off in the building they were next to.

The custom Harley that came flying out of the wreckage landed neatly on the street in front of the parade and Johnny Rancid managed to somehow screech his tires as he speed away making rude gestures with both hands.

It seemed as if the entire world had stopped to gape, but the illusion was broken when the familiar call of "Titans, go!" came. Yet, nearly everyone who'd heard the call just turned their heads to stare at the skinny, green kid who'd squeaked out the order.

Beast Boy and Robin were a full block away when the rest of the Titans realized that they'd heard correctly, that Robin had followed, and that they were lagging behind.

A quick shift into a pterodactyl and a deft grab of Robin and the two titans in the lead gained altitude to see where the fleeing villain had gone.

Sadly, Beast Boy's first official stint as leader turned out to be a little bit of a let down. As soon as he and Robin had cleared the tops of the apartment buildings that surrounded them on all sides, they'd found Johnny Rancid neatly contained in a dumpster that he had crashed into after taking a sharp turn down an alley.

He still kept up his duties as leader though and called in to the local police station for a pick up and a tow of the wrecked bike. And he'd done the obligatory statement so the men in blue could file a proper report. AND he'd managed to do it all with a very professional air.

After they'd tied up the last of the loose ends that needed knotting, Beast Boy remarked about how they needed to get back to the parade. And when Starfire had asked if they would get in trouble for holding everything up, Beast Boy simply said, "Nah, I told 'em to just keep going without us if anything came up." He ignored Cyborg's look of incredulity.

The walk back to the parade float was short what with Rancid's snafu, and soon everyone was back in their positions. Beast Boy was showing off again, Robin and Starfire had gotten some...strange...chant going through the crowd, mostly due to Starfire's interesting turns of phrase, Cyborg was reloading his candy cannon, much to the delight of some smaller children who had been sure that video games, toys, and mud were all more fun than standing on a street, and Raven had gone the entire time without scowling at one single person.

The procession was reaching the halfway point, right in front of the Wayne Corporation tower. The plan for the day was that the parade would stop, Beast Boy would make a little speech, the people who'd put in all the money for the event would get a nod, and then they'd be off again.

Beast Boy made his way up to the podium amidst cheers and clapping. He started with a little joke about needing to go home because he was feeling green, except no one laughed, only not for the usual reasons. Instead, it was because his voice had been drowned out by the bank alarm going off in the next block over. It must have been quite the shock for Mammoth to burst through the wall with his arms loaded full of money bags to find the Teen Titans, the chief of police and his immediate subordinates, the Jump City Women's Guild, and half the city's citizens staring at him. To his credit, he only stood there looking like a complete moron for a second or two before he gave a cocky smirk and bolted.

Beast Boy called out the Titan's battle cry again, though this time the entire team rallied to the call. Beast Boy called for Robin and Starfire to check if any of Mammoth's usual crowd were still in the bank while he grabbed Cyborg and told Raven to cut in front of the over sized Neanderthal.

Mammoth, thinking that all five Titans were hot on his tail, looked behind himself and stopped short finding the street empty. He looked up just in time to see Cyborg fire off his cannon. The attack was devastatingly point blank except that candy didn't seem to hit as hard as the sonic waves that were normal used. Cursing himself, Cyborg quickly switched up his ammo.

Mammoth called out a few choice taunts as he sprinted off, blowing a bubble with his newly acquired gum.

He laughed when he turned the corner and saw clear sailing, knowing that he would be able to lose them once he'd gotten to the Hive's secret tunnels. The two cars that suddenly slammed together with him in the middle didn't find anything funny about the whole ordeal.

Slightly groggy, but able to shake it off quickly, he spotted Raven hurtling another car at him and only just dodged it. But the dodge had cost him, Cyborg and Beast Boy had caught up and Cyborg's cannon blast and a tail whip from a T-Rex Beast Boy put him down for the count. A quick call on the communicator clued Robin in to where they were. He reported back that Mammoth had been the only one to make any unauthorized withdrawals, and that the only money missing was the bags holding the bank's monthly change delivery.

All Beast Boy could do after he radioed in the police was a pitiful laugh.

The trip back to the parade was longer this time. Mammoth had gotten farther away from the route than Johnny had, and the parade had moved on, acting under Beast Boy's orders. When the team caught up, they found the various marching bands, local community groups, and men on tiny mopeds with silly hats all stopped. Since there weren't supposed to be any more stops until the finish back at city hall, Beast Boy raced ahead while Cyborg called after him saying it was probably just a float malfunction somewhere in the line.

He absolutely hated it when Cyborg was right.

The malfunction in question was that the lead float, HIS float, had decided to be stolen. Being such a well designed piece of machinery, the thing had actually been fast enough for the other members of the parade to completely lose sight of it. After being pointed in the right direction and hearing that it was some fat kid in a trench coat, Beast Boy let slip another "Titan's go!" and was quickly off to the races as a greyhound.

When the trail started to go cold several blocks later Beast Boy called for everyone to split up for a wider search, though he needn't have bothered. The sudden emergence of a small, yet impressive looking building driving up the street some how distracted everyone from following the order.

And it was with great annoyance that they watched as Control Freak leaned out of a window to taunt them about their impending doom.

"You stole my float and ruined the parade to make a mobile home?!"

The ginger haired jelly bowl sneered at the comment and started bragging at length about his "mobile tactical fortress" and its many defense systems and weapons. To prove his point he hit the largest button on the remote control in his hands and a surprising number of laser cannons popped out and self-targeted at various members of the team.

It was a curious thing to watch Beast Boy. He seemed to have just finished some internal decision and was marching straight towards the window that Control Freak was in. The cannons all seemed to go off at the same time and yet it didn't seem to do anything to slow Beast Boy's advance on the building. Beams would be perfectly aimed at his head and chest but a quick shift into a snake and then a small bird and once again the green boy was marching directly at his opponent.

Control Freak looked unnerved by the whole thing and started hitting buttons on his remote hastily. The concussion grenades that came pinging into Beast Boys path were either swiped away to explode harmlessly on the sidelines or were simply ignored through one form or another that could take the impact.

The oil slick that came next became a slide for an otter. The caltrops that littered the ground watched a mouse scurry along between the spiked balls. And the iron plating that suddenly blocked the windows and doors was breached after a few impacts from a Tyrannosaurus tail whip.

The other Titans, who had been too busy dodging laser fire themselves to keep pace with Beast Boy were suddenly treated to a girlish shriek, a muted thud, and a grunt of pain. Most of the cannons had been taken out in the battle, but it was still a relief to watch all the remaining ones go dead. And when the front door to the building opened up Beast Boy came slowly out dragging Control Freak behind him.

Robin had been about to praise Beast Boy's daring do during the duel when a massive cheer erupted from down the street. The fight, it seems, had somehow managed to end close enough to the parade route that many had seen the it, and consequently, the victory the Titan's had just won. And the cheers just grew louder when Beast Boy came fully into view. In fact, it took a full twenty minutes before the mayor's bullhorn could be heard over the ruckus calling for the parade to get back on track.

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That night Beast Boy slumped down onto the couch in his usual spot near the middle. His face looked tired, but happy and his friends were still talking about the strangeness of the day. He watched as Cyborg munched on leftover candy while Robin explained some saying or other to Starfire. He then lolled his head in the other direction and caught Raven's eye from her place at the end of the couch. She smiled lightly in return of his sleepy grin and asked if he was ready to take up the lead full time.

The only thing Beast Boy could muster to say was, "Maybe next year."

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A/N So…guess how long a period of time this fic's gonna cover………I'll wait………Hey! You're smart. Reviews are appreciated if you write more than one sentence. Anyway, the opinions expressed in the preceding fan fiction are solely those of the author and in no way reflect the views of your creepy aunt Edna. She's just nuts.


	3. April

A/N So, yeah – quite a bit of time between updates. Almost four years. It's not like I haven't been thinking about this fic, and I have been writing a little here and there (though not always this fic, despite having started this chapter and nearly finished another all those years ago). I just fell out of the habit of writing and updating regularly. Part of it was this chapter giving me problems, and part of it was forgetting to have fun with the act of writing (instead of looking at it as work because I felt it needed to be done), though mostly it was just me getting lazy. I'm going to try and stop doing that.

But, I'd like to ask a favor of all the people who read my stuff. I want to know what everyone's favorite Beast Boy & Raven comics are (I've read several on deviant art). They can be funny pages style or comic book or anything as long as it's a story told in picture form. And yes, jokes and puns in single panels count as stories for this. Responses will need to be sent in a private message as FFN doesn't allow links to be in reviews, they're automatically removed. Oh, and good luck with the disclaimer. :-)

Disclaimer – EkjpigZAfnBMoDEHlRstUVqWXCY, BzTCqeDViJmynOhKPslUFWXrgA, CaBFeDJignhKWlmOPqrusTVXyz, STUPidwOrKGAvEMYzbcFhJlnqx, wpdCzbeingwHatyoujrklmqfsvx, AZByCxDWEvfugtHsiRjqkploMn, aBCDeFghiJKlmnOPqrsTuVWXyz, cAREFulTVsbdJKMigHnPyqwOXz, ZxJFKUncOPYriGhTAblESqdvMw, BREAktHisCfgjpuqyMvxnzDoWl, PUbvExiNgFJOrdschMALTzYqwK, WDBFYoUrEAgiMPChZKVLNqstXj, zyxWvutsRqponMlkjiHgfEDCBA, zCBAFEDghjLKiMoNrqsPUtVWYX, FCgDAEBhijYNXsMoKPrtVULqWz, AbYZcdwxEFUvGhSTiJqrKlOPMn, gARfiElDsuCkzWoMBjnpqtvHxy, BiglosERpAntYDUCkXHjzfqVMW, youCAntBEDfigsHjklMpqRvWxz, abCdefGhIjKLMNsPOrKqTUvwxYz, bOdYhJKlMPqTvAcEwxzSUrFinG, pqsTVWXzyougirLeMaNBCDFhjk, nmolpkqjrishtgufveWdxcybZa, AEFHJKMOPRTVXbcdgilnqsuwyz, AzFLgUKYMbNJOhPEriqcsdTxwv, NewjObfIxMrGLUCKshazYTvPdq, AlBkCfgDHjoMtpsiunqvWxEyzR, cmxeyWgjtoRfsunvdZkabqphli, BDCVEtfRHniljpkgMXqAsoUYzW, ratedpgmbfjknoqsuvwxyzilCH, liqUORsBaDcFgHJKMPvxYZwenT, LJMFNDPCRBUAXKsezgyhwivotq, AzBtCsDqEpHoMnRlUkVjWiXgYf, aeiouyBCDFghJKlmnPqrsTVWXz, dELTAiONbUshYcFgJKMPqrvwxZ, icUTMYSElFAndGrOwbhJKPqvxz, BaKeDFiTlOgCuPrmJqsVznWhXy, AlOEsbRigHTJuMPycdnqwFKVXZ, FaliCyquOTerBDghJKmnPsVWXz, AeBgChDiFoJqKsLtMvNwPyRUXZ, aBCDeFghijkLsTuMpyNoqrVWXz, XraysPeCKzDFgJTuBlmqVOnihW, MYDUcKisalOneRBFHJPTgqvwxz, gjqrtzBFVWXYisLANDhoMEPUCK, ABCDEHMRW, bcdghiqrsvwxz, gkjCHBpDtzsVfAEilMnoXqRUWY, AbcdEFGhiJKlMnSTOPqrUvwxYz, TUKVWAXYBCDNOPEFghijlmqrsz, aefghIjklnopqrstuvxyZBCDMW

A Year In The Life – April – Now comes the mystery. (Henry Ward Beecher)

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Everyone in the room was staring at the same person. That same, small, green person stood in a way that showed his burning desire to magically fade into the wall he had his back against. Starfire's harsh gaze seemed to bare down on the elf the hardest because it was the one he'd hardly ever seen. Raven was merely glaring at the boy the way she always did when he deserved it.

Hunkered in the basement as they all were, it was unlikely TV would save Beast Boy as he had desperately hoped.

"Why would you even do something like that, Beast Boy?" Robin said, shifting on the stack of boxes he was sitting on. "Didn't you realize it was going to stink up the whole house?"

Beast Boy looked sideways at their leader and then back down again. "Dude, I totally don't remember even doing it!"

"But you're not saying you didn't."

"No, I'm saying I…might…not…" His voice trailed off as he looked around for someone, anyone, who'd come to his rescue. He stayed quiet when no one did.

"Look, man. If you can remember what you did, that cleaning crew upstairs can get done faster and we can all go cool down."

Beast Boy gave a bad attempt at a smile and let it drop. Cyborg always did watch out for him when he was down; even when it was his own fault. "But I don't…"

"Yeah, I know you don't remember, but can you remember anything about some prank trap that never went off, anything at all?"

Beast Boy shook his head. "I don't even know who it was supposed to get. I mean, I'm the one with the best nose, so…"

"Let's just start at the beginning." Robin said looking like the sleuth he was trained to be. "It started this morning some time after I woke up. Tell us everything you did this morning."

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"Kay, I was asleep in my bed, right? And I'm having this great dream about tricking Cyborg into eating tofu when this funky smell wakes me up.

"I opened my eyes and the smell was like this big monster coming at me from everywhere in my room. I did my best to fight it off by kicking and punching it whenever it got close to the bed, but in the end it was too strong for me and I had to run for the door before it caught me and made me a zombie slave.

"So I jump for the door, hit the button and run outside, locking it the second I'm through. The smell wasn't as bad in the hall, but it started coming out from under my door and when I started running away again I saw that it was coming out from under ALL the doors!

"I ran as fast as I could for Cy, not cause I was scared, but you know, to warn him! When I saw him in the kitchen he was spraying air freshener like he was supposed to breath it, but the smell monster was too strong! It just kept coming!

"When Cy's spray can was empty we ran for the basement and then you guys came in and everybody thinks the smell monster is my fault only I don't remember doing anything to make smell monsters!"

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Everyone stared slightly dumbfounded at the changeling. "A smell monster?" Robin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Dude! It totally was! It was all big and brown and green and evil!"

"And it was going to turn you into a zombie?"

"What else would it do?"

"Yeah." The urge to roll his eyes left a palpable taste in Robin's mouth. "Why don't I tell everyone what I saw happening this morning?"

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"Okay, at six thirty I got out of bed, and went into the bathroom to get cleaned-up for the day. Six fifty-seven I went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee. We need to buy more filters.

"Seven twenty-three I met Starfire in the hall for our morning workout. She went and grabbed the last few Easter eggs for her breakfast, shells and all.

"Seven thirty-seven we went outside and started with a warm-up on the obstacle course's easy mode. Star's flying is faster than last week. After, we each took a couple turns going against the course on seven. I need to practice single-hand plants at odd angles more; double hand plants are slowing me down. Starfire broke her old course record by three tenths of a second.

"Eight forty we took a quick swim to cool down and then came in for an early lunch. It looked like it was going to be the first really hot day of the year, but it was nice and cool inside.

"Nine fifteen we both started to notice the smell on the elevator ride up to the main floor. It got worse as we got higher so we exited on the floor below. I checked my com to locate everyone else. Seeing that everyone had congregated in the basement, we made our way back down.

"Nine twenty-one we called the cleaning crew in to get rid of the stink on the way down here. Upon our arrival I noted Beast Boy's look of guilt and Raven and Cyborg's looks of anger and annoyance. The cleaning crew arrived at ten on the dot."

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"At least we know Rob still never switches off," Cyborg said with a grin. "That was like reading one of your police reports."

"Hey, it's just how I take things in. Besides, it gets me the little stuff that gets forgotten or missed."

"But, Robin, you _have_ forgotten some of the day's events! I shall…make the blanks full for you."

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"I awoke with Silkie cuddling me to receive his morning meal. I provided the necessary sustenance and gave him a bath to wash off the berries. I have great fun watching him splash about.

"After I had done the showering for myself I went to meet Robin. We have been training together lately because he has not been able to take me on as many dates as I would prefer. He has explained that this allows us to mix business and pleasure though I am unsure what business we are conducting, though I have guessed that Robin means the business of the Titans.

"Robin greeted me in his usual way and after I had eaten and taken some mustard for a snack we went to train while the sun continued to rise. I enjoyed the warmth as we practiced the dodging. Robin tripped about halfway through and I am sure it was because he was looking at me, though he has denied it. I do not mind.

"My turn on the course was fast because of Robin's promise – that we would see a movie tonight if I achieved a good time. His face did the blushing when I finished because I told him he had to provide me with more than just the movie because I was triumphant over my best previous time.

"When Robin went for his turn I told him he could pick where we would go for the dining if he were to also place a fast time. He was victorious over his best by three seconds and I was most impressed and hugged him. He is very good at the hugging.

"The swimming was most refreshing and Robin is very good at the laps. We had a race and I was able to win, though I am the cheat because I was using my flying and do not need to breath under the water.

"While we were in the elevator we were doing the kissing and did not notice the odor until we were almost to the main floor. Robin stopped the elevator, found all of you, and said we should join you in the basement. I was not as upset about the odor because it does not smell like it is horrible. It smells like my home's food of glunka, though I have always hated its taste.

"When I arrived into the basement with Robin I saw the looks of anger on Cyborg and Raven and realized that Beast Boy must have done a klorbag thing. I was angered because Robin wasn't going to do the kissing in front of everyone else."

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"Did you have to tell them about the kissing, Star? I thought we agreed to keep it just between us." Robin mumbled.

"I did not do the kissing with anyone else. And, should they not be happy for us? I have understood that finding one you like is special."

Robin sighed trying to ignore Cyborg's smirk. "It is, I just get…I don't know…I'm shy about letting them know." He said quietly, gesturing to the others.

Starfire looked from Robin to the still smiling trio who had briefly forgotten Beast Boy's guilt or innocence and then back to Robin again. "I shall do repairs." She then glided over to the others, her face neutral. "If I speak of these things about Robin and I, you will be respectful."

Cyborg grinned a little, "Hey, no proble…"

"Or I shall be very angry." She said rather intensely, her eyes glowing fiercely.

Beast Boy peeked out from behind Raven's cloak where he had suddenly hidden. "Hey, Cy? How 'bout you tell us what YOU saw this morning, 'kay?"

Cyborg stepped back Starfire, clearing his throat, "Good idea."

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"Oooookay, so I finished charging at six like usual. I passed Raven in the hall on my way to the gym and she asked if there was anything I wanted to add to the shopping list since it was her turn to put it together. I made sure she added on another side of bacon, a ham, burgers, hotdogs, and those little cans of Vienna sausages.

"I focused on my legs for my workout doing squats, lunges, leg lifts, and leg curls. I totally crushed my best in all of them because those new servos I designed are seriously powerful. I need to whip up another batch for my upper torso, but that might take a while because they have to be a little bit smaller and I haven't got the parts for that yet.

"I went and found Raven again so she could add the stuff I'd need to her shopping list and I turned on the AC so it wouldn't get hot.

"After I talked with her I went and started to make my famous four course, super meat, awesome breakfast extravaganza; I always make it just before somebody goes shopping. As I was getting the eggs off the stove, taking in a big whiff because of the garlic I'd added to them, I got the first hints of that stank that's upstairs.

"I started sniffing around, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from because it was like it was coming from everywhere. It was in the kitchen, and the living room, and even seemed like it was coming from the hall.

"I grabbed that flower smell spray stuff we use when Star cooks and gave it a try. It's pretty strong, so it worked for a little bit and I went back to start eating my eggs and stuff, but the smell just came back. I gave a bigger spray of the stuff, got a few bites in and had to spray some more.

"It kept building like that until I was standing there, spraying and spraying and that's when Beast Boy came in. He was screaming something about how the stank ball must have come alive and my can of spray ran out, so we bolted for the elevator and just hit buttons at random. Since the basement didn't stink we just stayed when we ended up here.

"I asked Beast Boy if he knew what the heck had happened and found out he didn't know what was going on, but when I asked what he thought it could be, he came up with the prank idea pretty much instantly. Since I know I didn't do it and since nobody else really pulls pranks but him and me I asked if it was him.

"He just looked guilty and kept saying how he didn't remember doing it, but the more he sat there thinking about it, the guiltier he looked. I didn't notice Raven come in, but when you guys got here, it just seemed like we all knew what happened."

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Beast Boy slunked down farther against the wall. He'd been sure that Cyborg would offer something that might not make it look like his fault. He looked up at the last of his accusers, the faintest of hope in his eyes, but Raven was hardly one to cut him a break.

She only told as much of the truth as she was comfortable with, but she detested lies, especially her own. "Just get it over with, Rae."

"Fine."

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"I woke up at five, got showered and dressed. I ate some toast and a little bit of my Easter candy for breakfast. Since it's my turn to make the shopping list I decided to get it done quickly.

"I did the usual check for the basics in the kitchen and the pantry – mustard for Starfire, tofu for Beast Boy, unhealthy amounts of meat for Cyborg. I've already got coffee filters on the list, Robin. Beast Boy's candy was on the counter, so I took a few pieces. He'd offered yesterday so I thought it'd be okay.

"I'd finished up in there and was heading for the bathrooms when I bumped into Cyborg. He added everything, like he said, and I took it back off because we don't have room in the fridge for it all. But since he decided to try and eat a small farm, I'll put it back.

"I finished up checking the bathrooms for what they'd need, but I couldn't leave because apparently Robin's usual way of greeting Starfire is to make out with her for ten minutes or so. I had a few of those mints Cyborg hides behind the towels while I waited. We all knew about them, Cyborg.

"After the bathrooms, I was checking the med-bay. Cyborg came in and added another long list of stuff, though this time I left it. The AC came on while I was still working, so I hurried up before it got too cold. For some reason we have lollipops in there. I grabbed a couple.

"I was just heading into the laundry room when I started to notice the odor. I thought it was an unwashed load of clothes Beast Boy or Robin hadn't done yet, so I kept working on the list. The smell got worse and I brought my cloak up to block it out so I could finish and get out of there. I ate a few cinnamon disks to try and get the smell out of my nose.

"Of course, as soon as I was outside the laundry room again I noticed I could still smell whatever it was and I caught of glimpse of Beast Boy and Cyborg running for the elevators. I just phased through a few walls and followed them down to see if they were laughing about some stupid prank or just trying to get away from that stuff like I was.

"I heard them talking and drifted in behind Cyborg. I guess he couldn't hear me chewing on the last of the lollipops I got from the infirmary. Beast Boy really did look pretty guilty, but I'm not sure he really did it. I can't feel any lies coming off of him and he's feeling pretty bad about it. It still seems like something he might do."

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Everyone was staring at Raven as she finished and she eyed them suspiciously when it didn't stop. "What?"

"You're a sugar junky." Said Cyborg. "You don't think I did it?" Said Beast Boy.

Raven looked briefly between the two. "I'm not a sugar junky. And, I said I'm not sure you did it."

"You've been eating candy all morning." Said Cyborg. "What does that mean?" said Beast Boy.

Raven sighed deeply. "It means that I won't be surprised if somebody else did it, but that you're still the most likely suspect. And I'm not a sugar junky, Cyborg. That's just the way I eat."

"So who's the second suspect?" said Beast Boy "Huh?" said Cyborg.

"I eat small meals and then I just grab whatever's around in between. Easter was last week, so we've got a lot of candy right now. And Cyborg's my second guess. Now stop talking at the same time!" said Raven. She turned slightly wearily to their leader. "Please tell me you've got this figured out since Beast Boy doesn't remember a thing."

Robin, standing quietly next to Starfire, was looking contemplative. Contemplative soon changed to smug, but smug rapidly gave way to embarrassed. "Uh, yeah. I think I've got it. Give me a sec." He said as he quickly left the room.

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Half an hour later Robin was ushering everyone into a very fresh and clean smelling common room, still looking like he'd just been caught kissing Starfire.

"So, like I said, I got it figured out, but first I want to ask something. What were each of you going to suggest for Beast Boy's punishment?"

"No video games for a week." Cyborg answered and the changeling's ears drooped. "Laundry duty for everyone's bedding." Said Raven and Beast Boy started to frown. "He shall do the taste testing for my food and not complain." Starfire added in and he groaned.

"And I would've made him pay for the cleaning crew which would have nearly wiped out his moped fund."

"Dude! My nest egg!" Beast Boy's face took on the look of someone who knew he was getting what he deserved, but wished he weren't.

"What do you mean 'would have'?" Raven said.

Robin slouched as he said, "Beast Boy isn't in trouble. He didn't do it." And before anyone could voice disagreement or ask who had ruined their day he added, "I did."

"It was because of Easter. We really went all out this year. Beast Boy and Cyborg picked up all that candy, and Raven set up the baskets. We all decorated eggs, and I hid them."

Robin smiled a little painfully. "I guess I hid one or two a little too well. They weren't ever found. Well, I know where they were." He paused to see if anybody else had a guess, since no one spoke he continued. "The air intake for the AC. When Cy turned it on this morning, they must have rolled down the shaft a little and fallen. They broke open and since they'd been there for over a week they were pretty rotten. The intake then shoved all of that stench into the rest of this floor. The elevator shaft is how it was starting to get to the other floors, but we don't have AC in the basement, which is why it never got there."

"Once I told the cleaners what had happened they were able to get rid of it all pretty quick. Since I'm the one who caused it, and not Beast Boy, I'll take the punishment we would've given him." Robin finally looked over to the green teen. "I'm really sorry I thought it was you, Beast Boy."

Beast Boy just sat there, his face twitching between relief, outrage, sympathy, and a score of other emotions. "So, I'm not in trouble. You're all sorry." He waited for everyone to nod. "You get all the punishments. And you did it on accident?"

Robin smiled weakly. "Looks like it."

"Lame." Beast Boy then rounded on the rest of the team. "I'd only get in trouble like that if it was on purpose. I think you should cut all that stuff down by half and that everybody else should help you by covering the other half."

"So, three days without video games, only two other people's bedding for laundry duty, less of Starfire's food, and only pay for half the cleaning crew?"

"Sure. I totally call helping with laundry duty."

"No video games." Called Raven, raising her hand.

"I shall help pay for the cleaning." Starfire then leaned in closer to Robin. "This is like doing the Dutch, yes?" Robin nodded, smiling.

Cyborg was smiling at how everything had turned out. "Hey, man, I'm sorry I thought it was you. If it makes you feel any better, I thought it would have been a pretty awesome prank to have pulled if it hadn't almost ruined the whole tower."

Beast Boy just laughed. "Dude, that doesn't do a thing to make it better, but you having to be Star's other guinea pig does!" The look of horror on Cyborg's face erased the misery of the entire day for Beast Boy.

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If anyone can actually crack the code at the top of this fic I will mail them ten dollars of actual American money. It's not that I believe none of you could crack it; I just don't think anyone is willing to put in the time it would take. If you take a guess, be sure to explain how the code works in addition to your answer for what it says. I'll put the code's solution in the last author's note if it isn't cracked before the last chapter is put up (which means you should all have plenty of time). Brownie point for anyone who can guess the meaning behind my separator bars. (If they show up, that is.)


	4. May

A/N It's been such a long time for me to get into the habit of writing regularly, that I think I might need to do something potentially extreme to really get back into those better techniques that I started to see in myself. This chapter may not be what people are expecting after the last one, but I've had the basic outline of this entire story since before I wrote the first chapter. I still think the framework works, so I'm going forward.

Disclaimer – If I own the Teen Titans, then whales are made of cheese.

A Year In The Life – May – Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (Winston Churchill)

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In what can only be called the most galling of circumstances, it was cloudy. The bright sun that had been promised the day before seemed to be hiding. Robin detested days like this. It was neither sunny nor raining, neither hot nor cold, and neither summer nor winter. One of those wretched days that can't make up its mind on what kind of day it ought to be.

It was bad enough with what day it was for the weather to have ended up like this on top of everything else. It was the most frustrating of holidays for him, and like the weather it couldn't make up its mind to be good or bad.

Memorial Day had always been a touchy subject for superheroes. They would put their lives on the line, just like any of the other fallen honored on the day, but the public had less sympathy for them. They had powers, why did they deserve the same recognition as those who risked more with less?

But for Robin it was intensely more personal because he wasn't merely someone who felt slighted for the work he did, but because of the friends and allies he'd lost. Their contributions deserved mention even if it wasn't to the public at large; they deserved that solemn nod of recognition.

It had been a difficult decision when he'd been asked to speak for the annual gathering of Titans the world over. He may have helped organize the group, but others ran it now while he continued to protect his city. And when they had come to him and asked him to share something on a day that most of their number really didn't understand yet, he had needed time to know whether or not it was something he could really do.

In writing the speech he'd done a lot of research; research was what he always did when he had a problem he didn't know how to handle. The origin of the day and the first celebration of it were trivial for his purposes, but it helped him start to understand the intent of the day. Why it had been created and what it had come to mean mattered deeply. Helping all these…kids understand was not going to be easy, but was important.

That Robin understood and even agreed with the general population about who was more important didn't help, but maybe it would keep him pointed in the right direction.

With trepidation he finished his walk up into the building and onto the stage. His thoughts turned to his mentor as he waited for the event to begin. He thought of the countless hours of training they did, coupled with constant reminders of how much failure could cost them. Bruce hadn't liked the idea of a child risking the same things he was and probably hoped Robin would back out of the deal.

Not a chance. There was too much stubbornness in him; too much anger that needed direction and focus. Sure, it was an unconventional method for letting go of all that hate, pointing it at those who deserved, but it had worked. Probably because by the time he was ready to start going out with Batman, most of the anger was gone, replaced by skill, discipline, and a firm moral code.

The Titans from all over the world weren't like him. As far as he knew, he was the only one with no powers whatsoever, and yet so many of them looked to him for leadership, guidance, and example. It was daunting. Being Batman's student was easy – all you had to do was refuse to quit. Being seen as his equal to so many others was almost impossible. He didn't deserve it.

They needed to understand this one day and they needed to know why the rest of the world wouldn't care if they did, but that it mattered all the same. Bruce could do it, Robin wasn't as sure of himself and definitely wasn't as good a speaker.

But that didn't matter, because his name was being announced to polite applause and it was time to see if what he wanted to say was going to make them angry or actually get through to them and make them see the day for what it was.

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"Good afternoon. I was asked to speak to you today about Memorial Day. I was told that I was asked because my team knows what its like to lose a member, to lose a comrade in arms. But I think I have better things to talk to you about today.

"The country in which we are in sets aside this day in May to honor those who have lost their lives in armed combat and the service of their country. Many of you here today are not natives to this land, but know that we use this same day to honor those among us who have similarly fallen. I think that is a good, and right thing to do, but it's not what I'm going to talk about.

"Instead I want to focus on why the people of this country, and of many other countries with similar days of remembrance would choose to ignore our loses on such days.

"The simple answer is because we have things they don't and so their loses look greater and more noble to the common man.

"The hard answer is that we are less deserving. We don't put ourselves in the same kinds of risk. We don't work for the same kinds of rewards. We are honored and praised with nearly every victory. They are honored and praised only in death. We are better armed, better protected, and better funded, yet they fight their good fight.

"They press forward in the face of oppressive forces. They lay down their lives, knowing that death is likely, in the hopes that their sacrifice means another won't need to.

"I gladly honor them, knowing that the work we do means they have things worth fighting for. We're the neighborhood watch; they're the ones who make sure we still have neighborhoods.

"We honor them through our sacrifices and the few of us who have succumbed to that same mortality join their ranks in least of ways, in that of death in service.

"Do not feel slighted by the public ignoring our fallen for this one day. Instead feel slighted every time they forget those brave men and women for the rest of the year while they praise us.

"In closing I would like to read the names of those who have fallen in recent years so that we may observe a moment of respectful silence for them. The world forgets them for this one day, and as on many other days, we will carry what the world can't.

Now at the end of his speech Robin found his voice leave him for the first time during the day. He truly felt the words he had spoken and they stirred deeps emotions within him, but now he needed to read a list of names. Names of people he knew, respected, and loved as brothers and sisters. He steadied himself and began.

"Edward Alan Bloomberg

Tara Markov

Courtney Mason

Ryan Choi

Grant Albert Emerson

Andre Twist

Thank you."

…

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It's a very short chapter, but it's also a tricky subject. How do you show superheroes honoring their dead on the day that makes the most sense for them to do so without cheapening the real men and women who died serving their country? In the end I shot for something that deflected the fictitious deaths away from the real ones while still trying to remain respectful of both. Let me know how I did.

All of the names are DC superheroes that have died in the last three or four years in the comics plus Terra. It's not all of them, but it serves its purpose.


	5. June

A/N It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye – then it's a sport. Dibs on the sneaker deal, you can have the electrolyte beverage contract.

Disclaimer – Let us suppose that ownership of the Teen Titans is x and that all answers that are "true" are ones in which x is equal to 1. Warner Brothers owns the Teen Titans, and they're number one for that. And even if I _could_ own the Teen Titans, it would be imaginary. (i in math is called the imaginary number and is equal to the square root of -1.) Yeah, I'm kind of on a math kick lately. I will absolutely explain my ridiculous logic for this disclaimer for anybody who wants it.

A Year In The Life – June – It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. (Pope John XXIII)

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"Come on, Raven. Open the door."

"No." came the muffled reply.

"But Robin and Star are gonna be leaving soon and Star wants to say bye."

The muffled replies continued. "You already know I never come out during this weekend. Cyborg will be gone in the morning but he'll be back on Monday; you'll be on your own for a day and a half. You can handle that."

"So what? I can also handle being thrown into a brick wall, but I'm not lining up for that ride any time soon. Besides, it's not about what I can handle. It's about you not doing this anymore. I thought you were done with hiding in your room."

"I'm not hiding, I'm mourning."

"Of course it's morning, the sun came up an hour ago."

Raven's door opened a crack. "IN mourning, not THE morning."

"I know." Said Beast Boy as he pushed his way inside her room; turning to face her after he'd gone a few paces past. "I was getting tired of talking to a wall."

"Get out, Beast Boy." Raven said trying to pull him towards the door.

"It's not like I'm making you go outside or anything, I'm just not letting you sulk in here alone all weekend."

"Beast Boy, it's been like this every Father's Day since we've met. Why would I change now?"

"Cause you don't need to punish yourself because your father sucks."

"I'm not punishing my…just…look. I'm perfectly fine with Robin going off to see Batman, and taking Starfire is a big deal for them. And I completely understand that Cyborg hasn't talked to his father in a really long time, so that's important for him too. And I get that it looks like I'm locking myself away because my father is the worst example of one in the world. But I'm staying in here, alone, because I don't want to feel like crap and look like it while my friends are doing things that matter so much."

"Huh?"

Raven closed her eyes half to collect her thoughts and half to keep her emotions in check. "I don't want to bring everybody else down. I can't help it though. Father's Day is just a reminder that I don't have one."

"Dude, is that all?" Beast Boy said smiling. "I'll share mine!"

Raven's expression was quizzical. She shook her head experimentally and found that she really had heard what she'd thought she'd heard. "I'm not sure it works that way. Doesn't Mento have a say in…"

"Not him." Beast Boy said with a little chuckle. "I mean my real dad."

It was difficult to be delicate with that kind of preamble. "Isn't he…"

"Tomorrow after Cy leaves I'll come get you before I head out." Beast Boy said as he walked out of her room.

"But I didn't say…"

"Probably around ten." Beast Boy said as he shut the door. "And you still need to go say goodbye to Rob and Star." Came the muffled addendum.

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Ten o'clock the next day quietly rolled around and Raven found herself lightly pacing. She knew that Beast Boy wasn't going to accept no for an answer, but all the day did was bring up past hurt. Her father had done horrible things just to have a child he could use in a disposable fashion. To him, she was an object, a means to an end and nothing more.

Maybe he could be talked out of this.

"Raven, time to go!" said a chipper voice accompanied by a knock. "I've already got some breakfast for you if you haven't eaten and lunch is covered too."

Maybe not.

She sighed in self-commiseration, squared up her small frame, and opened the door. "So…"

"Yeah?"

"Any chance you'll leave me alone?"

"Nope."

"Where are we going?"

"Just a few places I go to remember my dad. Come on."

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Walking alongside Beast Boy as he strolled down the street, a backpack she had rarely seen slung over one of his shoulders, Raven looked over her own shoulder at the tower in the distance. She could still make out which window was hers.

"So, first up is the cemetery."

Raven snapped her attention back to Beast Boy. "What? I thought your parents died in Africa."

The light that always seemed to be shining from the boy's eyes dimmed a little. "They did, but this is where they were from. Mom was a professor at JCU when dad got invited to talk about his big discovery in Egypt. He was brought in on some pyramid dig and found a new kind of beetle and there was a lot of talk about it because it only lives inside the pyramid it was found in. Kind of made him a big shot. Well, for biologists. But they hit it off and got married pretty quick after that."

"That's why you came to Jump after you left the Doom Patrol."

"Yeah." Beast Boy's eyes regained their brightness. "I didn't really live here. From what I could find we moved to Africa before I even turned one. It took me a while, but I found out what places they used to go to; you know, for dates and stuff. And I go to some of those places on days like this to remember them."

"They were buried here?"

"Nah. They never found them. But my family's got a plot and there's a couple headstones with their names on them."

Beast Boy's nonchalance couldn't hide his emotions and Raven found herself uncomfortable with where she had led the conversation. "I'm sorry I'm asking about all this. We can stop, if you want to."

"Why would I want to?" Beast Boy asked with a lop-sided smile. "My folks were awesome. How many kids get to go to Africa instead of school? Mom still taught me stuff, usually at night since she was my dad's main assistant, totally nepotism, but I learned about stuff from the tribes we'd hang out with too. And dad would tell me all kinds of stories. Stories about the animals and African legends and stuff."

Raven lightly lifted her cheeks in a smile. "That does sound pretty cool. How old were you?"

"Eight, I think." Beast Boy's smile grew as he looked over Raven's head. "Hey, we're here."

Beast Boy opened the gate for Raven and the pair of them picked their way across the cemetery to the back section Beast Boy had said contained his family's plot.

The mausoleum at the center of the Logan family lot stood serenely gazing out at the rest of the tombs and headstones in front of it. Raven found it a bit austere and was quietly ignored by Beast Boy when she attempted to ask why his family's 'plot' was more of a private cemetery.

As they walked around the stately old center structure Beast Boy headed directly for what were obviously the newest headstones in the area. While most were graying from age and weather, these two still held a brightness in their granite-work.

"Okay, so the only rule about today is that you don't get to make fun of me for anything I do that I'm doing for Father's Day. If I, like, walk into a wall or something, go to town, but this stuff's off-limits. Fair?"

"I guess."

"Alrighty then. Raven, I'd like you to meet your dad for the day, Mark Logan. Dad, this is Raven and you're her dad today. I've told you about her before."

Raven arched an eyebrow but said a little uncertainly, "All good I hope." Seeing Beast Boy still looking expectantly at her she turned back towards the tombstone. "It's nice to meet you."

Beast Boy gave an approving nod. "So, anyway, here's what's been going on lately. Since the Brain and all those other guys are in jail, it's been kinda slow. We went on a vacation to Japan where we fought this police commissioner guy who was creating bad guys just so he could look good catching them. Robin and Starfire are FINALLY dating, it took them forever, but it looks like they're happy. Oh! And I found out that girls totally dig a green guy who does karaoke."

Raven rolled her eyes a little at Beast Boy's bravado. "Aren't you forgetting to brag about Saint Patrick's Day?"

"Huh? Nah. They were here for that. Okay, this next thing is kind of personal, so you have to go wait on the other side of the little building."

"It's called a mausoleum."

"Right, go wait near the front of it and I'll come get you when it's your turn."

"My turn for what?" asked Raven as he gently pushed her on her way.

"Tell you when I'm done."

Raven slumped her shoulders in a little pout but trudged back up to the crypt they'd passed on the way in all the same. She could still see Beast Boy from where she was and it looked like he was talking to the tombstone again, though he was definitely more engaged with it this time. She watched him talking and it was like watching him with Cyborg. He had gone into that way of carrying himself that told people he knew how weird he could be and was perfectly okay with being that way.

A touch of envy flitted through Raven's mind, but her admiration for how her friend had become so comfortable in his own skin chased it away. Before too long Beast Boy was waving her back over.

"Your turn." He called as she drew close. "It's easy too. Just tell him everything that's on your mind that you think talking to a dad would be helpful to do, or cool, or fun, or just because you want to tell somebody who'd care and be happy for you."

Raven eyed the headstone a little.

"Don't worry, he's a great listener. And he would want to hear everything you want to tell him. I used to go on and on about whatever stupid little thing I'd done during the day when I was a kid and he was always listening and paying good attention. He'd even ask questions about stuff, which I'm pretty sure he did just because I was excited about whatever I was talking about. Give it a try."

Raven looked up from the headstone and waited a little while. When Beast Boy still hadn't left she pointed back towards the mausoleum. "And go far enough that you can't hear me." She added as he started to walk away with a grin on his face. He waved to show he'd heard.

Raven was a little surprised to see him walk well past the crypt and almost to the gate of the cemetery before he turned around and waved again. Satisfied she turned back towards her loaner father. "Well…I have no idea what to say. Beast Boy said you were a good listener, but I think he was just trying to be funny again. He's getting better at that at least."

"I don't really know what to say because I've never had somebody to talk to like this before. He's got memories of you that sound pretty cool. He's a good person. Everybody already knows that because of all the superhero stuff we do, but even behind that it's there. He bugs me every chance he gets because he wants me to smile or laugh or just be a part of the group, and he never gives up; even when I wish he would."

"I might like him, you know, as more than friends, but I don't really know how to deal with that either. The first guy who ever showed any interest never called and the other one turned out to be an evil dragon. We have pretty strange lives."

"I think I would have liked to have known Beast Boy when you were around. He makes having a dad sound like everything it's supposed to be. I guess you did a really good job. I've got a mother, a real mom, but it would have been nice to have that other person looking out for you. Watching over you."

"Since this is all just some strange Father's Day ritual Beast Boy thought up, I don't think I'm going to be having any kind of major break through here, but it's nice to know he cares."

"Don't tell him what I've said."

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Raven and Beast Boy were walking in a companionable silence. Beast Boy was smiling at everything and seemed to be trying to soak up the sun like a flower. Raven was still introspective about her 'chat' with Beast Boy's father. It seemed like such a silly idea, talking to an empty grave, but she really was feeling better than she was this morning. Maybe the boy had some real smarts after all. "Where to next?"

"College."

That might be more smarts than she had been figuring. "Excuse me?"

"The college. My mom used to teach there and dad was brought on as a visiting professor after his Egypt bug thing. We're going to his old office."

"Oh." Raven thought quietly to herself for a bit. "Isn't it somebody else's office now?"

"Not really. When we all went to Africa he and mom were still teachers there, they were just on sabbatical. They were supposed to come back after their research was done. The guy I talked to said colleges do stuff like that because it's a kind of advertising. 'Look at all the big important stuff our teachers are doing.' That kind of thing."

"But why does he still have an office?"

"The bugs. He was already pretty well known for the Egypt one, but while we were in Africa he kept finding new species. That's why we stayed out there so long. He'd be studying the birds or the lions or rhinos or whatever and would stumble on some new bug. One of them was a mite that he found on a bunch of different birds. Another was a new kind of dung beetle." Seeing Raven's nose scrunch up he grinned. "Hey, it might be kinda gross now, but when I was a kid it made him a rock star. And since it was a lot of good press for the school, they turned his office into a kind of mini-museum to show off what he and my mom were finding."

Beast Boy's smile faded, but his happiness in talking about his father was starting to grow on Raven. "So they just left it up after he died?"

"Yeah. His office is right next to the library, so now it's just another exhibit. JCU's supposed to be a pretty good school for biology and entomology, and my mom and dad helped make it that way."

The pair turned a corner and the Jump City University campus sprawled out in front of them. Beast Boy pointed off to a building that looked as though it had been well cared for despite its age. There was a campus security guard waiting for them at the door and after a brief greeting and polite introduction between Raven and the guard, whose name was Stan, in they went.

Inside was a tall, wide room with a view up to a skylight. Bookshelves stretched in almost every direction with floor after floor ringing its way around the central hub of the library. Feeling like a kid in a candy store, Raven caught herself after only a few strides towards one of the many rows of treasure.

Beast Boy chuckled a little with a promise he would bring her back to just look at books on another day. He led the way up a set of stairs, down several rows of books, and finally to a hallway tucked near the back of the building that looked as though it connected to the building behind it.

The office they were looking for was easy to spot as the wall separating it from the library proper had been knocked out. Probably so groups could visit the display without all of them having to cram into the tiny space. There were maps with colored pins showing discovery locations and travel paths. There were displays with insects pinned in neat little rows all meticulously labeled. And there were souvenirs that gave an idea what kind of people had been met in the remote locations the maps showed.

But the centerpiece was a photograph blown up to poster size that bore the label 'Mark & Marie Logan Memorial Exhibit'. Raven took a few steps forward before catching herself and looking back to Beast Boy who just gestured her back towards the picture.

The Logans had the look of real explorers. Mark was bearded with rough looking skin and an easy, and familiar, smile. Marie was definitely where Beast Boy got his face though. She was an inquisitive looking woman with gentle eyes. They were both heavily tanned. "When was this taken?"

"About a year before they died."

"You smile like your dad."

Beast Boy smiled to show just how true that was. "I know. Mom said he was a bit of a prankster." Beast Boy laughed. "She used to say he tricked her into a first date. See, it was her classroom where he gave his first lecture here, cause she had one of the biggest, and he's thanking her for it afterwards and she's talking about what a good lecture it was. And he just asks her out. She said no because they'd just met and he says,

'I'll make you a bet. I'll bet I can identify any ten different species of insect in the area by sound alone. If I pull it off, we'll go on a date, and if not, I'll leave you alone.'

"So, of course she agrees since she wants to see if he can really do it. And he has her meet him a little after dark and tells her to take him wherever she wants to so he can prove it. Well, after getting through about four or five bugs, she tells him that it's getting late and that they'll continue the next day. And he thanks her for the lovely walk in the moonlight and says,

'I hope our next date is as good as this one.'

"And then he smiles and walks off." Beast Boy beamed. "Totally awesome prank."

Raven had to agree.

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Lunch, as it turns out, was part of the Father's Day trip as well. Though the story behind it was hardly as introspective as the cemetery nor as steeped in personal history as the old office. "It's the closest place off campus, so mom and dad ate here sometimes." And that was it. No endearing stories, no personal marks left on the place, nothing. It had even been bought and sold a few times, changing significantly with each new owner.

Currently it was called The Burrito Factory; a name Raven felt did little to encourage someone to enter. The burritos were awfully good though.

They passed the time comparing other fathers. Beast Boy had apparently had a string of horrible guardians until he ended up being adopted by Mento and Elastigirl. And although they were scores better than the other replacements had been, it was pretty obvious to Raven that Mento and Beast Boy weren't on the greatest of terms. She could tell they loved each other, but it felt like there were things getting in the way of either of them being able to fully admit that.

After lunch they struck out again, this time heading for a nearby park. Beast Boy explained that it was a special dating spot his dad had. He'd also explained that he wasn't trying to trick her on a date or anything, just going where he always went. A small part of Raven, well hidden of course, was disappointed.

The park in question, it turned out, was the same one they always went to when the team felt a need to be in a bit of nature but not too far from home. The big, green, grassy field where they normally set out their picnic was left behind as Beast Boy led the way to a small pond that rested on one of the borders of the grounds.

There was a gnarled looking oak tree that provided a little shade, but Beast Boy made his way to the exact opposite side of the pond.

"Okay, see the oak tree over there?"

Raven nodded. It would have been impossible to miss especially since it was where she had thought they were headed.

"Well, watch the water where its roots are showing."

Raven did as she was told. There were bees or flies buzzing around the mossy limbs, but the pond seemed calm. The tranquility of it was seeping in when there was a sudden flash of scales, a snap of a small mouth, and a plop as the fish plunged back into the water. Beast Boy's laughter made Raven's head turn towards him.

"There's koi in the pond, and there's some kind of fly that lives in the oak tree, so the fish have learned that jumping at the flies can get them a tasty little meal."

"Cool. Is this where your dad proposed, or something?"

"Nah, this was just his favorite date spot. He proposed at my mom's favorite, wanted the odds in his favor. Besides, I save that place for Mother's Day. Mom loved her wedding."

Raven watched as another fish sprang from the water for a quick bite. "Hey, Beast Boy?"

"Yeah, Rae?" he said, his eyes still following the koi in the pond.

"Thank you for today. My father has always been a sore point…"

"Nope. That's your old dad. You've got mine now, when you need him, so the old one doesn't matter any more. Anyway, I always thought that failing as a dad was the worst thing you could do. So it's his loss, he doesn't get any of the credit for how awesome you are."

Raven smiled then pulled Beast Boy into a fierce hug. Tears had never seemed possible for her, but Raven was great at shows of gratitude when she wanted to be.

Beast Boy was great at things that didn't involve his friends suddenly hugging him and awkwardly patted her on the shoulder until she let go.

"Thank you, Beast Boy."

"He-ey, don't mention it." Beast Boy turned towards the tower that they both knew was there even if they couldn't see it. "So, no more moping in Ravenland on Father's Day, right?"

"Right."

"I'm totally giving my dad all the credit for any awesome you pull off from here on out though."

Raven gave half a chuckle and the ghost of a smile. "Fair enough."

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So, there ya go. Another chapter in this highly (intentionally) disjointed that I'm finally back to writing. And all it's taking to keep me going like I want to is the firm refusal to go to bed before I've written at least something. I've also been playing little creativity games in my head a lot lately and I hope to start using the stuff that's been floating around eventually. But I want to finish this story first.

I've always hated it when a fic I was reading and enjoying ended and when I looked at the last update, saw it was years old. It's really bothered me that I'd been neglecting this for so long, but it feels good to be getting back to it.

But don't expect me to keep getting a chapter up every few days. I work a graveyard shift with ten-hour days, so the heavy lifting for writing time is done on the weekend. Expecting a chapter a week seems reasonable though. Feel free to berate me if I fall short of that.

And as a minor thing, everything about Beast Boy's parents was made up by me. In the comics they're working on genes and DNA and stuff, but biologists in the field tend more towards studying biology than doing genetic research, so I changed it though how Garfield gets his powers would likely remain the same. I'd just come at it form a different angle given this setup.


	6. July

A/N This is a very difficult part of the year for me. Not because I've got some hardship or bad memories associated with it, but because it's time for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Major distraction when your favorite sport is at that point of the year where everybody who's playing is playing at the best of their ability and with the entirety of their considerable efforts. It's exciting stuff, but doesn't make for the best time to work on writing – which always seems to come best when the TV's off.

Disclaimer – In the event of a tie for ownership of the Teen Titans, the first tiebreaker shall be number of original creations (characters, scripts, drawings) used in all media distribution methods. The second tiebreaker shall be greatest number of accolades received in all media distribution methods. The final tiebreaker shall be greatest number of total original creations and accolades. I've got exactly zero shares of Warner Bros. stock. What's the likelihood I'll see these tiebreaker rules in use?

A Year In The Life – July – Whenever I'm caught between two evils, I take the one I've never tried. (Mae West)

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod, birth name Madison Modlin, was stewing, quite literally. His prison work assignment had him in the kitchens preparing food for his fellow inmates. This served the double purpose of keeping him away from any technology as the kitchen's most advanced bit of electronics was an industrial mixer that had been installed some time in the fifties and also kept him away from the laundry where he was highly likely to make alterations to the prison uniforms to improve the wretched things.

It was times like these, the smell of substandard ingredients slowly turning to mush under his barely adequate hand, that he admired the stupidity of the criminal justice system; sad sods. Why they thought he would need existing electronics to be able to create his lovely little toys was beyond him. Materials were good enough, and those could be gotten from the kitchen pretty easily. A bit of spare steel, some plastic, glass, all there for the taking. And everything he couldn't swipe? Well, jail was a great place to learn how classic barter systems worked.

And considering how far along his latest creation had come he was figuring to be out that evening. It would be grand; just in time to correct a past mistake.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Punk Rocket, birth name Albert Schmeckle, was finally home. He tossed his apartment keys onto the dresser amazed he still had them, placed his guitar onto its alter, and collapsed onto the mattress on the bare floor. It had taken him months to figure out where he had been sent by that trumpet playing git and a few more months to figure out how to get back.

The first thing he'd done upon returning to the dimension the Earth was actually in was to try and contact the Brain. Having no luck with that, nor with any of the others he tried to contact, Punk started doing a little digging. A little is all it took to find the massive amounts of newspaper headlines and YouTube clips that had been plastered all over the world while he was gone.

He wasn't exactly broken up about it, an anarchist joining any sort of group never really felt right, but it meant he was back to square one. Maybe joining a group had been the wrong way to go? Sure, there were people that were obviously better than him at fighting against law and order and all that nonsense, but if you had to join something to get that good it didn't matter. They didn't want to get rid of the establishment they wanted to replace it. Well, bollocks to that.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven, birth name Raven, was struggling with a bit of a conundrum. Her socks had somehow gotten into a wash with Starfire's load of reds. The change to her socks was minimal, and they didn't really show above the tops of her boots, but she was sure someone would notice, probably Beast Boy.

Since she didn't have any other clean socks, it was a debate whether she would wear them and just deal with it, wear them so she could go buy new ones, or go without socks to get new ones.

And although she didn't consider herself vain, she really liked how well her socks matched her hair.

It was as she was holding up one of the slightly pinked ones to one of her unchanged ones that the alarm went off. She was quickly in the common room along with the others as Robin announced a prison break. It didn't bode well that an entire cellblock had escaped, but at least it wasn't one of the high security ones.

Raven was put in charge of containment to keep the escapees within a mile or two of the prison while Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg rounded them up. Starfire would act as the failsafe to grab anyone who got past Raven's blockades. At "Titans, go!" they were off.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod was gleefully skipping down the street. Letting out everyone else in cellblock F meant that he'd had as easy a time as ever avoiding the guards as he rushed the blasted wall with those common thugs he'd been penned in with. Freedom was grand, but now it was time for some good old-fashioned fun. It would be the fourth soon, and it was a great time to get back the Titans for his incarceration.

First things first, he was going to need a base of operations. Perhaps that distasteful little watering hole that pretended it was in the style of his darling London? Yes, best to start with the charlatans who pretended to love his bonny home.

So, with a twirl of his latest cane design and another grand skip, he was off to The Britannia Arms. The pub, as it detestably insisted on calling itself, was just a few blocks away.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Punk Rocket was having a grand time. He hadn't even started reeking havoc and people were already running panicked through the streets. The police looked to be scrambling about in a mad dash every which way but towards him. Best to get their attention now, when he knew where they were.

Kicking over a mailbox and vaulting off of it onto the hood of a passing squad car he thrashed an D diminished straight through the windshield. The glass shattered, the driver clutched his head in agony, and Rocket jumped off to watch the car plow through a Hallmark store's front plate glass window.

It felt good to be back home.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven was floating a few hundred feet above the epicenter of the area she was supposed to contain. She pulled into her lotus position and concentrated as firmly as she could. She couldn't really trap everyone inside of such a large area, she could barely trap one person inside a bubble barely larger than they were, but she could make it look like they were trapped.

The spell she was casting would simply allow her to monitor every street leaving her containment area with a little illusion that made every way out look fully blocked off by the police and the Titans. Few would try to break through, and Star was ready for them if they did.

The meditation was mostly to keep her sane as information poured in from so many points throughout the city.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod had hidden the instant he'd spotted them. Just a couple of blocks up the street he'd spotted that little blighter, Robin, instructing the rest of those foul little tykes on how they were going to round up all his newly freed friends. Seems they didn't know he was out yet. Good.

With no base of operations yet and with the Titans having several police huddled with them, discretion was the better path at this point.

But if the Titans were already mobilized to contain all the escapees, what to do? Separate them. They were too good together, but given enough distance they started dropping like flies. Wasn't that how the Brain had done it? He'd been stupid to put them all in the same place afterwards. Looks like it was time to put his new cane into use.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Punk Rocket had several police cars chasing him. It was so funny watching them try and keep up. Didn't they know he could just take off over the top of a building if he really wanted to lose them?

Punk was just looking for the best place to put them. There had to be a museum or a school or a library around that would appreciate some good old fashioned rock with a bit of redecorating.

He rounded a turn and saw the perfect place. It didn't look like they'd even spotted him yet. He raced forward and once all of the cars following him had made the turn as well he just looped over the entire line of cars and played his loudest E seventh chord. The police cars were suddenly airborne towards the Titans and the barricade they were setting up. He flew off before they could rally from the attack – he didn't want them ruining his fun just yet.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven's eyes snapped open. She quickly had Robin on her communicator as she scanned the skies to locate the smoke trail she was sure would be visible from the car wreck she had just seen.

"Robin here, what's up, Raven?"

"Six or seven squad cars just got thrown at one of my barricades near 4th street. Whoever did it didn't get close enough for me to see them, but it sounded like there was a guitar."

"Rocket."

"That's my best guess. I'll change up the illusion so that if he goes back he doesn't figure out what's going on. Let Star know that he's still contained, but could break through pretty easily."

"Will do. Robin out."

The lapse in concentration it had taken to give Robin the update had cost Raven. Her head throbbed painfully in rebellion against the knowledge flooding it as she had spoken. She needed to be briefer with future messages.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod was skipping again. Since he couldn't get to his first choice, he decided to just get started. He hopped up to a block of flats that were in that horridly boring style that was only used because it was cheap. With a flourish he swung his cane around like a fencer and finished with a firm jab directly at the main door. When nothing happened except for passersby to stare at him, he grinned and flipped open the top of the cane to give the hidden button a press.

The result was that the bricks, spackle, and siding rearranged itself into a miniature of the Tower of London. Mod gave a sweeping bow as he skipped off towards another building. "Be nice to your new home, duckies, it's good enough to hold a king's ransom." He laughed, madly of course, as he tapped the next building he'd chosen. It reformed into Westminster Abbey.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Punk Rocket was golfing with his guitar. Sure, the 'ball' was actually a small propane tank he'd stolen from a barbeque, and the 'hole' he was aiming for was the fire he'd started in a department store, but golfing was allowed for punk rockers; Alice had paved the way.

With a firm swing and a gleeful shout as he watched it arc right into the blaze he trotted off down the street picking out one of his favorite riffs while the tank's explosion turned the sky a lovely orange for a moment or two.

Rocket was still laughing about the screams he could hear when he rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Standing firm, and resolutely in front of him was none other than Buckingham Palace. Punk started looking all around him to try and make sense of what he was seeing. He grabbed some yank hiding behind a phone booth.

"Oy, what city is this?"

"W-what? I-i-i-it's Jump City."

Punk Rocket threw the scared man back behind the phone booth as he stormed towards the intruding architecture. "Some bloody git's trying to reform all my lovely chaos!" He did a power slide straight at the structure as he strummed his guitar as hard as he could. The sound waves flung out of his supped up Strat shook the building to its core as great pieces of it started toppling down. He got up to look at the smoldering heap and let out a battle cry as he ran off to find whoever had done this. "Anarchy in the U.K.!"

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven was getting tired. The boundaries were holding, but no sign of Punk Rocket had been found since she'd reported in. Worse yet was the shear number of convicts still on the loose. They might have hours still to go. At least the real police had been able to use her illusion to scramble into position without the risk of someone slipping by before they were in place.

They had been advancing forward to tighten the containment area, but it was slow work as each building had to be checked from top to bottom before they could move past it. She silently cursed when her communicator went off.

"Be quick."

"We've just caught the last main group. There're a few stragglers, but they've been going down easy."

"Done soon?"

"Maybe, bad news though. The prison finished their head count. Looks like Mad Mod was the one heading this unscheduled field trip."

"Mad Mod and Punk Rocket? Plan?"

"We keep doing what we're doing. The police have caught up to your boundaries, right? As soon as the last of the stragglers are caught we'll turn our full attention on Mod and Rocket. You gonna be able to hold out till then?"

"Be fine. Bye."

Robin had the good taste not to look affronted at the abruptness of their conversation. She could hold this for a few more hours, but these pauses in her meditation were hurting worse every time.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod was fuming. Every single one of the lovely little bits of Britannia he'd erected was lying in ruins. Somebody needed to pay.

He's was storming along, planning on seeing what his cane would do to a living person when he spotted one of his former roommates bolting across the square in the next block up. He sprinted along the shadows to see what the large lad was doing.

Mod recognized the brute as one of the few folks that most of the people at his level of criminality steered clear of. He might not have been smart enough to lead a paper bag, but the bloke had strength and a touch of the old psychotic that he hadn't fully given into yet, though most thought it was only a matter of time. Mod and his fellow criminal masterminds had enough sense to stay away from things that were about to explode.

Sure, Mod kept his distance from the fellow, but he couldn't help but silently cheer him on as he saw him sprinting towards a bevy of constables. It was a strange thing though. As soon as old muscles got to where he could see what Mod could the Titans were suddenly on the scene. And they hadn't just arrived; they'd just appeared out of nothing; not even that dark girl's black energy showing anywhere.

Mod had done enough work with holograms to know when he was looking at one once he knew where to look. And looking skyward he spotted a very familiar dark blue cloak high above him.

"Now how to get you down, I wonder…"

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Punk Rocket was exhausted. He'd already brought down Buckingham Palace, twice, four Tower Bridges, half a dozen Saint Paul's Cathedrals, and even a Wembley Stadium or two, but more of the blasted London sightseeing tour kept popping up around town like weeds.

It was bleeding insanity!

After his third or fourth Royal Exchange he'd gotten the idea for who was behind all the London lunacy and he was certain that he'd be doing a one-man show for the outdated hippy prick. He'd have gone to grab a few amps to up the ante, but every time he get near some escape for the part of the city he was in he'd spot the Titans and a line of police cars.

The police he could handle, but the Titans weren't an easy target especially since they'd learned how to fight him.

And then, there he was, Mad Mod, just standing on a street corner like he was waiting for a bus. Rocket flew in on his guitar, leapt off of it, and went to as big a swing as he could. He nearly threw his shoulder out when the instrument passed right through Mod like air, but then it spoke.

"Thought you might be a little hostile, so I've arranged for this bit of safety. Don't want nothing happening to my person before we've had a little chat."

"Piss off, wanker!"

"Such a mouth, but at least you're drawing from the higher English instead of this lowbrow stuff they've built up." When Punk Rocket started to walk away, Mad Mod decided to get to the point. "Having trouble getting to anywhere else in the city? Titans putting up a fuss whenever you're trying to get across town?"

Punk Rocket looked back at the aging hipster. "If you're coming to me, you ain't getting past them either."

"Then let's help each other, one Brit to another."

Rocket eyed the old fool. "Alright, you can get a gig, what's the plan?" Old fool was a good title for the buggerer; he'd get what he deserved just as soon as the Titans were out of his way. The old fool was probably planning the same thing.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven had finally gotten the call she'd been waiting for. Cyborg had just let her know that the last inmate had been returned to the county lockup and that she was free to let down the barrier.

She was stretching luxuriously to get the kinks out of her knees and back, privately enjoying the cracking sound both made after staying so long in her meditative pose. Her shoulders had just given a satisfying pop when she heard a voice from behind her.

"No rest for you yet, love." Punk Rocket's guitar narrowly missed her as she dove under the blow. "Just gonna give you a few guitar lessons. No need to panic!" He smiled maliciously.

Raven made for the ground as she pulled out her communicator. "Robin, I've found Punk…" The small device popped in her hand. It was then that she saw Mad Mod holding his cane like a gun pointing up at her from the ground.

"You've got to admit that shot was aces; hundred yards easy. EMP, my little duckie, ne need to worry just yet." He hopped over the parked car he had been using to steady his hands. "No more calls for you, though. Time for this bird to let us out of her little cage."

Raven had scarcely gotten into a fighting stance when she heard Punk Rocket's primal scream from above. She was having trouble just dodging the two villains attacks let alone finding an opening for a counter offensive. She needed to get out from between them. She darted at Mad Mod, figuring that he couldn't maneuver as quickly as Rocket could.

Mod took a swing as Raven went zipping past him and snarled as his swing swung through nothing. "Can't run forever, girlie. Best to come take your lumps now." And although spry he might be, Mod never had been a very fast runner. He was just catching up to Raven when he saw a lamppost flying along ready to clothesline him.

Raven was ready to glare at Punk Rocket to let him know he'd be next when the garish rocker struck a chord on his guitar to stop the lamppost flat. "Now, now, love. Can't have that now, can we? What say you just spring open your door and run away?"

"Fat chance." Raven said as she tried to grab the two villains between two large folds of upturned lawn. Mad Mod's cane tapped down into the grass as he pressed the button on top and the lawn was now a miniature of Trafalgar Square.

"Sorry, lassie, but I'm the only certified decorator here." He tapped his can on the edge of the curb and the Globe Theatre sprang up out of the street knocking Raven forward.

Punk Rocket took advantage of Raven tumbling towards them and slammed an F power chord for everything he was worth. Raven went flying in the opposite direction losing a shoe from the force of the blow. She collided with the wall of the building across the street and crumpled to the ground.

When she looked up Mad Mod and Punk Rocket were standing over her triumphantly. "Looks like the end of the line for you, girlie. How's about taking down that little spell that's got us all trapped here? Wouldn't want to beat it out of you, well, maybe just a little, but I can be reasonable." Mad Mod's breath smelled like stale fish and chips.

"Oy, what's with the mankey sock?"

Mod looked down at Raven's exposed foot. "Why on earth would you wear that rubbish? Now I want to beat our exit out of you even more."

"What? It's bloody brilliant! That sock couldn't match anything. That's almost worth letting her go."

"Letting her go? Are you mad? No. I am. And Moddie says this thing deserves to be burned and given a burial in the Thames."

"You stupid git, you don't destroy something that's already destroyed. You let it out and show it off. It's the most punk thing these Titan morons have ever done!"

"You want to give them the bleeding Royal Victorian Order, that's your lookout, but this little bird is going into her own cage after keeping us in this one!"

Both Mad Mod and Punk Rocket stared down at where Raven was supposed to be in quiet alarm. Before either of them could shout at the other for letting her get away Mod's cane and Rocket's guitar were engulfed in black as they shot up out of their hands.

They quickly bolted in opposite directions from each other only to be dragged back; Mad Mod tied up with a street sign and Punk Rocket bound head to foot in parking meters.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Mad Mod, prison name 'That Old British Dude', was stewing. Being captured because of that idiotic, tone-deaf, bleach-brained, moron was infuriating. Worse yet was that his new prison work assignment had him pulling weeds from the yard by hand.

Punk Rocket, prison name 'That Yong British Dude', wasn't fairing much better, nor cursing much less than the primped-up ponce he was now having to bunk with.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

Raven, prison name too crude for print, was sleeping on the couch having passed out almost as soon as she'd gotten home. The others were talking softly at the table to wind down from the day's events.

"And she caught them because they argued about her sock?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

Robin nodded smiling while Cyborg laughed. "She says she's keeping them. Said they were her lucky socks now."

Beast Boy let out his own chuckle as he smiled over at the back of the couch. "She's so awesome right now."

Raven smiled lightly in her sleep.

~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./? ~!#$%^':",./?

And another chapter in the bag. I realized another reason why I was finding this story hard to write. It's because it's so (intentionally) disjointed. I wanted to have little slices of various happenings during the course of a year and I guess that means I'm just writing a bunch a one-shots that all relate to one another.

Realizing that didn't make writing this easier, but at least I know what I'm up against, right?

And I've made it over two weeks with writing at least some little thing every day. Woohoo! Now, if I can just keep it up for multiple months I think it'll become a real habit. Here's hoping.


	7. August

A/N Funny how many people still read these things years after the show's stopped showing new episodes. I wonder how long it'll last. Probably till the syndicated repeats go away. I can live with that.

Disclaimer – I am naught but a man. And no man is an island. Island Records published some really good music. Music makes the world go round. Round one of a bout has the introductions. Please allow me to introduce myself. Me, Myself, and Irene was a movie with Jim Carrey. Jimmy crack corn and I don't care. I don't own the Teen Titans.

A Year In The Life – August – It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Starfire was bored. She'd done her chores and her training, but with Robin out on patrol for the next few hours and not really feeling like cooking anything she'd been lazing on the couch while Raven read in the corner.

"Raven? Do you wish to go to the mall with me?"

"Not really, Star. Last week's trip is still a little too fresh for me."

"I have apologized. And I did not think the make-up would cause such a reaction."

"I'm not mad, but I don't want to risk another rash either." Raven turned a page in her book as she settled back in.

Starfire sighed. "Raven? I have read that a Friendship Day is celebrated on this planet similar to the one of my home."

Raven gave a noise that could've been anything from interest to gas.

"It is not celebrated in the city of Jump, but I am certain it would be acceptable to do so. Do you wish to help me?"

"Maybe later, Star."

Starfire slumped to her side and rolled onto her back so she could stare up at the ceiling. "August is boring."

"What?" Raven said, finally looking up from her book.

"August is boring. In all months other than this one there is at least one day of celebration to look forward to. I have done the searching of the Internet, and the most likely I was able to locate besides the Friendship Day is the Go Topless Day. Robin would not approve of that, I believe."

Raven gave a shocked little cough. "Don't know if I'd be okay with it either. Why is there a Go Topless Day?"

"A man said that since men are allowed to go topless that women should be allowed as well."

"Figures it'd be some guy. Frankly I can live with that particular double standard." Raven tried getting back to her book, but the strange topic had started a thought. "Why were you looking for a holiday for August?"

Starfire tilted her head so she could see Raven and let off a grin. "Robin. He will allow our duties as Titans to interrupt any date we may have planned, but he is always trying his hardest on the holidays."

Raven laughed silently. "Why not just kidnap him? It's not like he's strong enough to get away from you."

Starfire rolled her eyes. "I have done that. Robin has said I am not allowed to do it more than once in the month." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Is it normal for a boyfriend to fight against the dating as Robin does?"

Raven smiled. "Not really, but you already knew that Robin's not exactly normal, and we're not really regular kids looking for dates either."

"Is it wrong for me to push him?"

"As long as it's not too much, I don't see why it would be. Everybody needs help getting past their limits."

Starfire smiled shyly. "I would like more time to do the kissing." Raven blushed in response. "It is a glorious feeling."

Raven tried to get back to her book, but the sentence she was on was hiding and wouldn't come out.

"Have you done the kissing with Beast Boy yet?" Starfire said, peering over the back of the couch to ensure they were alone.

Raven buried her face in her book. "Can we talk about something else?"

"But you would enjoy it most greatly, Raven! It is so much more than I had believed when I first arrived here."

"Didn't you kiss Robin then, too?"

Starfire giggled. "That is how I do the learning of languages. You already know this."

"Robin wasn't too happy with your last language lesson."

"You are avoiding talking of Beast Boy."

"Yes."

"He has noticed you smiling at him more. I have heard him talking with Cyborg."

Raven looked over the top of her book. She didn't like the way Starfire was looking at her, like she expected Raven to ask for more, but curiosity was winning out. "What did he say?"

"That it makes him happy to see you smiling more. Cyborg believes you are doing the mellowing, but Beast Boy said that it is his humor spreading onto you." Starfire smiled a little more widely as Raven kept her cheeks from rising. "I refrained from correcting him."

Raven scowled at Starfire's giggle. "I liked it better when you got embarrassed whenever Robin and you got too close."

"I was not embarrassed." Starfire said blankly. She continued as Raven quirked an eyebrow. "I was nervous that Robin would push away. On my world, if I liked a boy as I do Robin I would simply tell him and he would be mine."

"You can just tell the guy to be your boyfriend? Doesn't he get a say?"

"Not the boyfriend, he would be mine, my husband. I am the princess and rightful ruler of my people. It is law that the ruler may choose their spouse."

"You want to get married already? Aren't you guys a bit young?"

"This is something I do not understand. I am a woman, he is a man, and we are old enough to protect this city and even the world, yet we are too young. Robin has said this as well."

Raven struggled to keep up. She knew enough history to know that getting married later in life was a much more recent development in modern societies, but still. "Marriage is a really big deal, Star. We don't need to get married for any reason other than because of love. It makes marriage a lot different than it might have been back on your home."

Starfire sighed. "I have been raised as though I would marry young. It was expected that I would either choose another from my people to show strength and unity or that I would choose a people to ally mine with and marry their ruler. If I have been taught the preparation for these things, what would marriage for love make more difficult?"

"Well…Robin hasn't been prepared for that. In fact, I'm pretty Robin's pretty clueless on girls in general. How long were you giving him every signal you could before he did anything about it?"

"Four years."

"See? So maybe you need to teach him so that he's ready if you guys do decide to get married."

Starfire sighed. "I have learned much patience here. It appears as though I must learn more."

"It's not all bad, Star." Raven said smiling. "At least he's your boyfriend now. Seems like you're enjoying that plenty."

"I am." Starfire gave a casual glance over the couch and back to Raven. "Will you marry Beast Boy?"

Raven's book dropped out of her hands. She was ready to start denying everything when she saw that Starfire was teasing her. She threw a cushion at her instead. "Just because I think he looks good doesn't mean I want to get married."

Starfire was still laughing as she tossed the cushion back to Raven. "I did not know you liked his looks. Will you tell me why you have the attraction for him?"

Raven closed her eyes. "Only if you knock it off about kissing and marriage and everything else I'm not ready for yet." Knowing Starfire would agree to almost anything to hear the answer to her question she pressed on. "I don't know why, it's not like he's changed all that much over the years. He's a little taller, a little less skinny, and a little less loud, but…it's like he's figuring out how to be Beast Boy instead of trying to be whatever it was he thought he was supposed to be."

"That is not a very good answer."

Raven glared at Starfire, but only for having seen through her attempt to dodge the question. "Fine, so he's getting pretty handsome, and all the training we do is having a really nice effect on him. You remember when we first saw Aqualad?" Starfire nodded grinning. "Well, he's growing into something like that, only not so thin."

"Yes, Beast Boy has become quite good looking."

Raven smirked. "You'd get mad if I said that about Robin."

Starfire looked sheepish at the accusation. "I feel very…strongly…about Robin. I do not wish to share him." She studied Raven's small smile for a moment. "You do not feel the same about Beast Boy?"

Raven shrugged. "Not really. It's not like I can stop somebody else from noticing him the same way I have."

"And you would not fight for him?"

"I don't know that I'd have a right to. We haven't done anything that's beyond us being friends."

"But you wish to do so."

"Yeah, but he might not want to."

"Then you must choose. I did the restraining of myself with Robin for fear of him running away, but I did not simply wait. You must choose whether you will have a friend or something more."

"What about him? It's not like I can force him."

Starfire smiled confidently. "I do not believe he would need the forcing. There is already the friendship; you are only growing it into more. His choice is not if he can love you, but how much."

"You should check out some of my books on ancient philosophy. You talk about love like the Greeks did."

"Who?"

"The Greeks. They had a few different words for love so they could say what kind of love it was. Love for family or friends, love from a lover, pure love, that sort of thing."

"Most interesting. And which do you feel for Beast Boy?"

Starfire was getting too good at seeing through her attempts to change the subject. "Maybe the second one? I don't really agree with the Greeks. Every kind of interest in someone else doesn't have to be love."

"But you love your friends, and Beast Boy is one of them."

"Yeah, but so is Robin."

Starfire wrinkled her nose at the slight barb. "And I am sure Robin would say he loves all his friends as well, but I would guess that you do not want only that from Beast Boy. Would you not be better served to help him do so? To show him it would be welcome?"

Raven laid her head against the back of the couch. "You realize I have no idea how to do that. In any book I've seen it in it's always the guy who does the courting."

"And were Robin and Beast Boy fully men we would not need to give them the help. They do not yet know that they are desirable. Would you wait for others to notice and act and only hope Beast Boy would choose you? I do not like other women pursuing Robin for fear he will realize he has many choices. Robin cares for me, but I do not know that he would choose me given such options."

The conversation was getting uncomfortable for Raven. Starfire showing self-doubt, especially about whether Robin was really head over heels for her, was scary. Was that what love did to people? Gave them the highs and the lows at the same time?

"Though, I will admit that I believe Robin would choose me." Starfire smiled guiltily. "But I do not wish to wait for him to actually do so, our time is already so constrained."

"But Robin's always liked you like that. He's been yours, married or not, since that first kiss."

Starfire bit her lip happily. "It is getting him to say as such that is hard." She looked over at Raven's wistful expression and creased her brow. "Do you not believe you have such a claim to Beast Boy?"

Raven shook her head.

"Robin and Cyborg have always said you and he were like a married couple already; though without the kissing." She giggled at Raven's cringe. "Beast Boy is always doing the hanging out with you when you are not in your room. He follows you around until you are annoyed and do the shouting."

"It's not like with Robin though. He's never even looked at me like I was a girl. It's always just friendly stuff."

"I am certain that is because he does not know he is allowed. Beast Boy breaks many rules by not thinking or by mistake, but he is good at only breaking them once. You must teach him that there is no 'only friends' rule."

"And how am I supposed to do that?"

"By example." Starfire said with a suggestive grin. "He will not take long. He is not stubborn like Robin."

Raven sat silently mulling everything over while Starfire started counting dots on the ceiling. It wasn't until Cyborg walked into the common room announcing that he'd be making dinner that she realized the sun had lowered quite a bit and that Starfire wasn't sitting across from her any more. This was going to be hard.

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(A/N) Can you believe I've actually written this much in two days? Yeah, it's pretty easy to do that. If I'd written out three or four chapters while still holding down my job and getting enough sleep in that amount of time it'd be much more impressive. Glad you ingrates appreciate the work I've put in.


	8. September

(A/N) Not having time to write like I used to is what I get for wanting a job that makes me fully financially stable. Stupid world needing money before they'll give me stuff.

Disclaimer – I was debating what kind of disclaimer I could do that would equal or possibly even top my previous ones when I realized that I don't need to since most people either didn't get my previous ones or didn't read them. What I really need to do is just find a way to write out "I don't own the Teen Titans" that amuses me.

A Year In The Life – September – You are the music while the music lasts. (T. S. Eliot)

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The music drifted lazily throughout the tower. It wasn't hard to know who was playing it since he had always had the largest collection, but also because he was the only one home, or at least, that's what he thought. In truth, Beast Boy was now being watched as he danced (sort of) around the room, singing along to one of his favorite songs as he picked up trash. It was cleaning day and as usual he was the slowest, so while everyone else had finished their chores and gone out to run errands, or on a date as Starfire and Robin had, he put on his music; as loud as he wanted, whatever he wanted, with (and this was the key to it all) nobody to make fun of what he might pick.

_It's not that easy being green_

_Having to spend each day the color of the leaves_

_When I think it could be nicer being red, or yellow or gold…_

_Or something much more colorful like that_

The person watching couldn't help but smirk at his song choice, a hand rested on her hip as she waited for him to notice he wasn't alone. The fact that he was singing along made it doubly poignant. But then she started to notice that he was singing better than he normally did.

_It's not easy being green_

_It seems you blend in with so many other ord'nary things_

_And people tend to pass you over 'cause you're_

_Not standing out like flashy sparkles in the water_

_Or Stars in the sky_

Now, Beast Boy didn't have a great voice by any stretch of the imagination. What he did have was a kind of raspy, kind of squeaky voice that hit the right notes most of the time; in short, nothing great, but not bad.

This time though he seemed to have a deeper connection to the song, the kind of feeling and emotion coming through that lets the listener know the singer really believes what the song's about. It caused her smile to fade from one of amusement to one of fascination. (And considering how long the song was, that's quite a rapid change.)

_But green's the color of spring_

_And green can be cool and friendly-like_

_And green can be big like an ocean, or important like a mountain_

_Or tall like a tree_

What made this little bit of private time different for Beast Boy was that when he finally did notice that he had an audience, he found he didn't mind; his smile shooting out to its widest at Raven.

_When green is all there is to be_

_It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?_

_Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful_

_And I think it's what I want to be_

Beast Boy made an exaggerated, flourishing bow at the end of the song. He was in the middle of getting back up when the next song kicked on. Raven clapped once making sure that her smile was well hidden; years of practice making it an easy feat.

"When'd you get back?" Beast Boy asked as he started to tie off the garbage bag he had filled during his dance.

It struck Raven how content he seemed, something she found herself shamefully envying. "Wasn't that song a little too obvious?" She asked, ignoring his question.

Beast Boy shrugged. "Doesn't mean I can't like it. Besides, it's not like I'm the only one who's got a song that fits like that."

"So if I asked you for one that fits Cyborg you'd tell me?"

"Mister Roboto by Styx," he answered quickly.

"And for Jinx?"

Beast Boy laughed. "Too easy, Jinx by Green Day."

"Did you make a list or something?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Kinda, but only in my head. I liked that Bein' Green is totally about me, so I listened to my stuff seeing if anything fit anybody else like that."

A small amused smile crept onto Raven's face. "So who else did you give a theme song?"

Laughing appreciatively at the joke, he challenged, "Just try and stump me!"

Finding herself in the rare instance of having a conversation with Beast Boy that didn't involve one of them getting annoyed with the other she stood thoughtful for a moment. "How about Cinderblock?"

Beast Boy's fang started to show, his smile growing out of control. "Thick as a Brick, Jethro Tull."

Raven couldn't help smiling lightly at the song's title. "Billy Numerous?"

"Billy Don't Be A Hero, Paper Lace." He answered laughing a little now.

"Gizmo?"

Beast Boy started laughing even before he could tell her. "Young, Dumb, and Ugly by Weird Al."

"At least you're honest. What about Mammoth?" She asked starting to enjoy this as much as he was.

"Don't know if you've heard of the song, but he's Jock-O-Rama by The Dead Kennedys, it totally fits him."

Deciding it was time to get more difficult Raven threw out, "Killer Moth." She smirked at Beast Boy's deep, thoughtful pose.

"Well…Audioslave's got a song called Moth. It's even got this line about the wings being made of cloth." He looked up to see if it was good enough for her. Seeing her looking amused with a slight (very slight) bit of being impressed mixed in caught him off guard and he laughed in the way he always did when things got beyond what he could keep up with.

"What about the rest of us here in the tower?" Raven asked trying not to sound like she was curious about what song he had picked for her.

Beast Boy's voice shook with a slight bit of nerves that his smile tried to hide. "Well, uh, I used to have two songs for Robin, but I got rid of one of them." He paused for a bit. "You're not allowed to laugh, but, uh, Robin was kinda, sorta, my hero when I was younger. I mean, he was Batman's right-hand man, his sidekick, so I picked Holding Out For A Hero by Bonnie Tyler. And before you start laughing at me about how it's about a girl waiting for the guy to save her, I don't like him like that…he was just, you know, my hero."

Raven smirked lightly. "Beast Boy, when have you known me to laugh at anyone?"

He blinked. "What about…never mind." And before Raven could ask him what he was about to say he started talking again. "That other song I had for Robin was when he was doing that Red-X stuff and then working with Slade. A really cool rock piano guy wrote this song called Trusted that just sounded like what had happened, just different."

"What was his name?"

"Huh? Oh, Ben Folds."

"I've heard of him. Didn't he have some song about joining the army?" Raven said, slightly proud of the fact that she knew some of the music that Beast Boy did even if it wasn't to her taste.

Beast Boy smiled. "That's him."

Raven decided to guide the conversation back to where it had been. "What song did you find for Starfire?"

"Songs." He said, laughing at himself. Seeing Raven's questioning look he explained. "She's like a kid who just downed fifty pixie sticks on their way to Disneyland. Half the stuff on the radio's about being happy. It's hard to pick the right kind of happy that's the same as Starfire's."

"So what'd you come up with?"

Beast Boy looked a little annoyed with himself. "Too many. There's Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin, Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz, Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles, Red Headed Woman by Bruce Springsteen, ugh…It'd be easier if she wasn't this almost always happy person and a wreaking ball in a fight. It's a weird mix that makes it harder for me to find a song that works by itself."

Raven would have voiced her opinion about how no person was ever fully described in any one song, but Beast Boy had started to rant and talked over her. "I mean, mine fits 'cause it's totally about how hard it is being different but being ok with it, Cy's is funny 'cause it just is, Robin's is totally how I felt when I was little, and everybody else was just too easy, but you and Star are just too hard to think up just one song for, nothing's good enough."

"So what songs did you pick for me?" She asked over Beast Boy's muttering about needing a song about the happiest little hand grenade so that Raven had to repeat herself, something she didn't like having to do and liked even less given that she was always nervous when people gave their views of her. "What songs did you pick for me?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I didn't tell you those yet." He looked a little sheepish, for some reason this didn't help Raven's comfort level…strange. "Well, when we first got together as the Titans and you were always off in your room and stuff I went for something funny 'cause…'cause that's how I deal with…"

"Everything," Raven intoned and Beast Boy nodded smiling guiltily.

"So I thought All By Myself, the original version by Eric Carmen fit you," his eyes fell to the floor, "but then there were all those times where we got to know each other a little better and you weren't really trying to be by yourself, just…I don't know…safe, I guess." He stopped studying his shoes and looked up. "But the rest of the songs that make me think of you when I hear them are all really cool and it's too hard to just say any of them is better than the others." He watched Raven closely to see if she was annoyed or enjoying herself or just for anything to get a read off her so that he wouldn't get himself in trouble, but she was only calmly listening, waiting for him to continue. "Uh, Little Red Riding Hood's one of them. Some group called Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs wrote it."

Raven let slip a smile. "I don't really wear much red."

"I know that!" he answered quickly. "When I listen to it I just change it to Little Blue Riding Hood." Raven let out a small, quick "hm hm" that might have been a laugh, but Beast Boy couldn't decide if it was or just a cough. "Black Magic Woman by Santana's pretty good, Spooky by Atlanta Rhythm Section's another cool one, and Witchy Woman by The Eagles is a classic. There're tons of really good songs about cool girls and magic." And before Raven could thank him for the compliment with her poker face still intact he added, "It just sucks that none of them are good enough."

Her chest feeling a little tight, Raven forced in a deep calming breath anyway and asked, "Why aren't they good enough?" Just after the words had left her mouth, Raven wished she could take them back. "Why" was a dangerous word when used too casually. What if they just weren't about the right kind of magic? Or what if she was his new idol now that Robin didn't seem to be? Or what if they were romantic songs and he didn't like that? What if? What if? What if? Raven was still stuck in possibilities when Beast Boy answered.

"'Cause it's you."

She didn't remember having leaned onto the arm of the couch while they were talking, but was glad she had since it afforded her a comfortable place to think, if only for a moment or two. "I'm not sure I understand."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes trying to look exasperated but ruining it with a smile. "Come on! You're Raven, THE Raven," he emphasized. "You're smart and funny and pretty and you totally kick butt in a fight and you even have little you's in your head! If all that's not cool, then nothing is."

Raven smiled with a slight tinge coming to her cheeks, but kept her face towards the window, or the wall, or any place that wasn't directly at the boy. "Thanks…that's…a pretty good compliment."

"Well, I like being complimentary. Want a cookie? They're complimentary too."

Raven rolled her eyes at the joke. "Sure."

Beast Boy walked the trash bag off to their incinerator chute and grabbed a couple cookies off the fridge on his way back. "Frosted oatmeal or chocolate chip?" He held out one choice in each hand.

Raven took the oatmeal cookie and started nibbling at it. "They're not really in my head, you know."

"Huh? Who-wha-oh, they're not? Where are those other you's then?"

Raven smiled lightly. "It's a magic mirror, Beast Boy. It's not really anywhere, which is why I have to use the mirror to get there."

"But they really are you, right?"

"Parts of me."

"See? I knew that, they're all cool too."

Raven got an idea; a wonderful, terrifying, exciting idea. She liked the idea far too much to keep it to herself. "So, you've got songs picked out for all of them, too, right?"

"Is that a challenge?" He asked as he grew a grin.

Raven nodded, her smile doing its best to hide her nerves.

Beast Boy stroked the beard he didn't have. "Interesting. Alright, I'll do it, but you gotta tell me who the ones I didn't get to talk to were. I only know happy Raven, sad Raven, and brave Raven."

"You're close, but I just call them by what color they wear. Pink for happiness, grey for sadness and fear, green for bravery, red for anger, yellow for intelligence, orange for rudeness, brown for wisdom, and purple for affection."

Beast Boy walked back over to the kitchen. "You want another cookie or some milk while I think? I'm trying to not use any songs I already used for somebody else."

"I'll take both to give you a little more time."

Beast Boy handed over the snack, flopping onto the couch afterwards. "Does it count if I can only think up something based on the color?"

"Sure, I'll go easy on you."

"Okay then, first one is Pretty In Pink by The Psychedelic Furs. I already said you're pretty, so happy you gets to be pretty too."

"I like that." Raven said with a soft tinge coloring her cheeks.

Beast Boy smiled slyly at the pink. "That color looks good on you." Which of course had the effect of causing Raven's blush to deepen. "For sad Raven you could use pretty much any song from Beck's Sea Change album, but I think Guess I'm Doing Fine works best. He wrote that album after a really bad breakup, so the whole thing is pretty depressing, but it's all still really good music. Some reviewer dude said it was sadly beautiful."

"How do you remember all that?"

"Nothing else in here to get in the way." He answered, knocking on the side of his head. "There's lots of songs about getting angry, so I went for something funny. William Shatner, the guy who played Captain Kirk on Star Trek did this cool song called I Can't Get Behind That where he's just ranting for the whole thing about stuff that gets him mad."

"He can sing?"

Beast Boy laughed. "Not really. He does a kind of spoken word to music, but it's not rap."

"Weird."

"Sure it is, but his stuff's really good. His first album got pretty silly 'cause nobody had tried what he was doing before, but there's good stuff on there too."

"You'll have to show me some time."

"Totally! Hey, I just thought one up for that brave you, I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers."

Raven nodded approvingly. "Not bad. You're half done."

"I totally want to cheat and say Bright as Yellow for that yellow one, but it doesn't mean bright like smart. Can I use another Ben Folds one?"

"Sounds fair, you're not reusing a song, just the artist."

"Then I'm going with Your Most Valuable Possession." Avoiding Raven's coming question he added, "That's the name of the song. It's just an answering machine message his dad left late one night, but it's pretty cool."

"Have you thought up anything for brown? That's wisdom and common sense."

"Okay, don't get mad, I'll explain, but the Beatles wrote a song called The Fool On The Hill that works. It's totally about a dude who doesn't get caught up in what people thing about him and instead does the things that let him see stuff like it really is. And I'd say that's a wise thing to do."

"I'll buy that."

"And Weezer wrote a song called Pork And Beans that fits for that rude one. The whole line the title comes from is 'I'll eat my candy with the pork and beans excuse my manners if I make a scene'. I think it works for burpy you."

"Fine, my gross side can have the Weezer song. Affection's all that's left. What've you got?"

"Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, too easy." Beast Boy stood in a triumphant pose before letting it crumble as he dropped back onto the couch. "Okay, I'm kidding, that song's only barely close. The problem is you mean affection, like for anything, not just love."

"Yes, it's more generic."

"So it covers love and friends and food and books…"

"And music."

"…And music and everything you could care about. That's tough."

Raven moved from the arm of the sofa onto the cushion next to Beast Boy. "Come on, you got a song for the part of me that thinks washing my hair is optional. This should be easy."

Beast Boy threw his hands up in the air. "Fine, but no making fun of me because of it." He gave a sidelong glance at Raven. "My Favorite Things. It's from a musical, and Julie Andrews sings it really well, but no telling Cy I watch musicals, okay?"

"You liked The Sound of Music?"

"So what? It's good stuff and Julie Andrews is awesome in it and…"

"What?"

Beast Boy grinned deviously. "You watch musicals too?"

"I didn't say that." Raven was sitting as innocently as she could.

"And I didn't say My Favorite Things was from The Sound of Music; you did."

"Alright, I like watching a musical every now and then. I don't tell on you, you don't tell on me. Deal?"

"Under one condition. Next time you feel like watching one, I get to join you."

"Deal. But it'll probably be Sweeny Todd."

"With Johnny Depp? Sweet. Wait! I just thought up one more song; it's awesome!"

Raven shifted in her seat to more fully face the green teen.

"Next time you get mad at me, you can totally use this one - Army Of Me by Bjork. You know? 'Cause there really is an army of you's."

Raven gave his shoulder a shove. "I'm guessing I'll need that sooner rather than later."

"Probably." He said with yet another smile.

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(A/N) Another chapter already? Yeah, well, it's not all that hard when the chapter's already half done (wrote a lot of this four years ago when I was first working on this story) and you can't sleep because it's over eighty degrees inside your home. Ugh.

Only one guesser has come forward about the coded message in chapter 3. Nobody else is going to give it a go? ;-)


	9. October

(A/N) I'm sitting here, trying to compose my thoughts while the Philadelphia Flyers home crowd chants ***hole at the ref after a bad call. It resulted in a goal, so you've got to give them some leeway, but jeez – there's got to be a ton of kids in that audience getting a bit of an education. I love playoff hockey and all of its insanity. (The game's been a good one too.)

Disclaimer – I don't own the Teen Titans. Happy! Me neither.

A Year In The Life – October –Every day each of us wakes up, reaches into drawers and closets, pulls out a costume for the day and proceeds to dress in a style that can only be called preposterous. (Mary Schmich)

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It had become a tradition that on Halloween the Titans didn't wear their costumes. For whatever reason, the day had always been a slow one for them as everything that happened on the day was easily handled by the police, all of it being vandalism, theft, and the usual crime of the more ordinary citizenry of Jump City.

Cyborg had been the one to convince the rest. Beast Boy had been a bit unintentionally unkind wondering how Cyborg was supposed to dress down for the day when the big man didn't wear clothes.

In an act of blinding charity, Cyborg had only given him a wet Willy in punishment.

Robin had, of course, been the hardest to convince. His initial reluctance was tied to his natural predisposition to discretion. He explained that if people knew who he was, it wasn't hard to figure out who his mentor was either. After he had finally admitted that the rest of the team could be trusted, it had only been the matter of breaking his habit.

Starfire had gladly taken it upon herself to remove the mask whenever she found him wearing it. She boasted a rather large collection after so many years.

This particular Halloween Cyborg was settled comfortably on the couch, just basking in the enjoyment of a casual day with no schedule to keep. He was wearing his holo-ring, like he always did, and was finding the sunrise he could just make out through the early morning fog promising.

There was going to be a little party in the evening. All the honorary Titans had been invited as long as they observed the same costume rules they did. Robin, not quite trusting everyone else who might show up, never attended these get-togethers.

And truth be told, the heroes that could actually pull off normal when they wanted to never came. Mostly it was folks like himself or Beast Boy, who couldn't really hide who they were, or people like Starfire and Bumblebee who didn't try to.

In a lot of ways he admired that second group. They had the choice to live normally on the side yet they chose to always be the hero.

He was still lost in thought when Raven drifted in. Her small wave of greeting, a simple lift of her hand, didn't register for a minute until his brain decided to finally process it and a distracted, "Hey, Rae." popped out. He hadn't even noticed her not-a-costume. Understandable given that it wasn't much of a change – an open blue zip-up hoodie over a plain black t-shirt and black jeans.

He hadn't realized how long had passed between her wave and his welcome, but the whistle of her kettle coming right after he'd spoken got an inquisitive look from the small sorceress.

"Lot on your mind?" She sipped lightly at her tea.

Cyborg looked back out at the fog that was starting to lift as the day warmed up. "Not really. Just thinking about what it'd be like to have a choice about this hero stuff."

"Doesn't your ring give you a choice?"

Cyborg smiled with a bit of pride at his technological marvel. "Not really. Soon as somebody bumps into me or they figure out I won't get on a scale they'll know something's up. It only hides what I look like. The only reason I got away with it at the Hive academy was because everybody there was like that."

"Why does it matter? You'd still be doing this if you could hide who you really were or not."

"Yeah, I was just thinking about folks like Bumblebee. She can hide it, but she's never worn a mask. Everybody who wants to can figure out who she is, where she came from, all of that."

"Sounds like she's got nothing to lose." Cyborg gestured for her to go on, Raven obliged. "Robin didn't want to tell us who he was because it put other people in danger; same thing for Speedy. Even Beast Boy used to wear a mask, though I don't know why. It's not like there's a ton of green boys out there. And nobody's got a fang like his that sticks out when…"

"Rae."

Raven looked up realizing she'd been rambling and quickly got back on topic. Cyborg respectfully ignored her chosen topic of distraction. "Anyway, maybe the reason Bumblebee doesn't hide who she is is because there's nothing to protect."

"Never thought about that." And as Cyborg was getting lost in his thoughts again, Raven decided to leave the room.

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Party preparations were in full effect when Cyborg announced that the first batch of hors d'oeuvres was done. He had, of course, prepared mainly appetizers from the meat family; rumaki was his specialty.

The first of the guests would be arriving soon and truth be told he was looking forward to seeing Bumblebee after his conversation with Raven that morning.

The girl could get pretty annoying with all that 'Sparky' talk and her bossy attitude, but he had to admit she had it going on. Not a bad brain either. Sure, it was all biology and genetics with some electronics thrown in for good measure instead of the princely fields of cybernetics and robotics, but they were respectable at least.

He was so caught up in his thoughts of Bumblebee that he barely registered Beast Boy's gripes about the vast amount of dead things now littering the table. Just a quick, "The veggie tray's hidden in the corner where it belongs and there's some spring rolls still baking" and he was back to his thoughts.

When Bumblebee did finally show up an hour later, he found himself fidgeting nervously. His nerves subsided when he remembered that he hadn't ever had problems talking to the girl. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had trouble talking with any girl. Now the nerves he'd felt had him confused.

He started to wonder what had caused them and was thinking through the knot of emotions to find its source when a "Hey, Sparky" broke him out of his systems check. Bumblebee looked stylishly relaxed in a loose fitting brown turtleneck sweater and a pair of hip-hugger jeans. As she drew near her smirk settled in more firmly as she added, "or should I be calling you Stone?"

He lifted his own smirk into place. "Hey, I put my pants on the same as anybody, one holographic display at a time. It's just this is the only pair I had."

After she'd laughed in a way that had Cyborg guessing whether it was a courtesy chuckle or not, they'd gabbed for a few minutes about their respective teams, getting the latest on various criminals, advancements, and gossip. Apparently, Aqualad had started dating dry-land girls in an attempt to get away from the fawning of the girls of his home. The results had been mixed.

Cyborg countered with the strangeness of Raven's behavior, but pointed out his own doubts as nothing had actually happened.

When a song Bumblebee liked came on over the sound system, Beast Boy had volunteered to DJ with the proviso that he keep it on the danceable end of the spectrum, she dragged Cyborg out onto the floor.

Cyborg thought it was funny that so many people who worked every day to stay agile could be so bad at dancing. At least he and Bumblebee were showing folks how it was done.

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When Cyborg and Bumblebee finally got off the dance floor over an hour had passed. He went and grabbed them both drinks and they settled into chatter about the party, about the people there, and about each other.

"I don't know how you do it." Cyborg took a hard pull from his water bottle. "You've got a solid team and a top notch tech-genius built tower, but you hold it together a lot more cool than Rob even with everything you got to deal with."

Bumblebee smiled appreciatively. "Well, I don't have to deal with you, so it's easier for me."

Cyborg rolled his eyes, but continued. "Just saying I'm impressed is all. And…"

"What?"

"You don't even have to make as hard as it is. How come you don't do the secret identity thing? It's gotta be nice having a way to take a day off."

"Probably is, but I wouldn't know. I went from high school to college to the police force to trying to be a super hero without stopping. I got to keep busy, that's actually how I got the name. Busy as a bee, that's me."

"Didn't know you'd been on the force, crime lab stuff?"

"Yeah. Took my degrees and started showing the detectives that all that evidence they were collecting mattered. I was doing experiments on the side when I invented my suit, the stingers came later."

"Wait, so your powers are all tech? Why'd you need my help with your tower if you can do all that?"

Bumblebee laughed. "It's all bioengineering and advanced physics. Not exactly the kind of stuff you want if you like the roof staying up and the doors locking when they're supposed to. Besides, most of my work is really hard to duplicate. Lots of waiting for just the right moment to get things set up when you're dealing with all this biological stuff."

"You're sounding like my science teacher back in high school. He always liked saying 'people change, even if no one can tell'."

"Ha! That's a pretty good one, for a biologist."

"So how come we've never gone out?" Cyborg hoped the sudden change in topic wasn't jarring.

Bumblebee sat contemplating for a bit, giving Cyborg a half smile as she thought up her answer. "Well, last time you had a chance, you asked out Jinx instead."

Cyborg laughed heartily at that. "She actually asked me. I guess it might have been a bad idea anyway. Two undercover heroes going to a dance together doesn't seem all that subtle."

"Probably not."

"So what about now? Any chances on the horizon?" He was keeping his tone light, but now that he'd gotten to the actual asking his nerves reappeared. And having them right in front of him he was finally able to identify where they were coming from.

And where they were coming from had turned out to be from his respect. He respected Bumblebee quite a lot and rejection would feel like he'd failed at something. He didn't like the idea of her deeming him less because he'd accept her opinion over his own.

Bumblebee, for her part, chose to crowd watch rather than answer right away. After a few moments she finally turned back to the tall man. "Sorry, Sparky, but I just don't see how it'd work right now. I know I like you enough that one date wouldn't be the end of things and I don't do the whole long distance relationship thing."

"That's probably the best 'no' I've ever been given."

"You get a lot of them?" She asked with a smirk.

"Enough that I still have a memory of what it's like. Pretty faded though."

She gave him a playful elbow to the ribs and winced slightly when she hit metal. "Forgot what's under you little light show. Now I wish I'd been a little more rough."

With a chuckle he offered another water bottle to put against the bump. "Don't suppose you got any plans to move. Come out and enjoy all this California sunshine."

"Probably the same plans you've got for moving out to see all that New York culture."

"Probably."

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Cyborg and Bumblebee went back out onto the dance floor not long after their conversation and lost themselves in the freedom that comes from dancing like you mean it. They spent the rest of the evening repeating that cycle; dancing, breaking for water or some food and a little bit of playful banter, and then back out onto the dance floor.

As the evening was winding down Cyborg started on the clean up with Bumblebee helping him. It hadn't gone unnoticed that the two had spent the entire evening together. Beast Boy had a clear view of them on the dance floor since he was set up in front of it and Raven had watched them talking as she tended to the food and beverages throughout the night.

Even Aqualad had noticed with an inquisitive smile on his face while he attempted to avoid the girls at the party who thought he was some kind of prize they could win.

Raven didn't know what Bumblebee's side of the story was, but when the party had finally broken for the even and it was just her cleaning up streamers, Beast Boy rounding up sound system equipment and cables, and Cyborg finishing off or storing the last of the food she broached the subject. "Looks like you and Bumblebee had a good time."

Beast Boy's head popped up from the table the DJ equipment had been set up on. "Yeah, you guys totally dominated the dance floor."

A smile. "Wasn't too bad a night. Bee's pretty cool."

"What'd I do?"

"Not 'B', Bee. As in Bumblebee."

"Ooooooooh." Beast Boy ducked his head back under the table. "So when are you guys hooking up again?"

"We're not."

Raven stopped shoving garbage into a bag. "Why?"

Cyborg gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Well, it's not because we don't like each other. Y'all probably saw me dance more than I have in my life. But, just because you like somebody and they like you and you both know it doesn't mean something will happen. Life gets in the way and you can't do everything you want to."

Beast Boy popped back up again, his arms full of neatly coiled cables. "Dude, that sucks."

"It's just the way life is, man. It'd be great if she lived closer or if I did, but since that's not how it is, we both move on."

"I am so not letting chances like that pass me by. You can be a super hero anywhere."

Neither man noticed Raven glaring at Beast Boy.

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(A/N) Just had one of those laughing at myself moments as I sat here going back and forth between enjoying a really good hockey game and thinking about my romance tilted children's show fanfic. Join in on the laughter, won't you?

And yes, this was kind of an odd chapter, but I liked it.


	10. November

(A/N) So…for anybody actually reading these author's notes, remember how I said I'd been writing daily and I was trying to make it a habit? Well, I haven't stopped, which is good, but I may have a problem. Seems I've written over fifteen thousand words for a completely different fic this week on top of getting this chapter done. Most of that writing was done in two days. Now to just finish up this fic and then post the other once it's finished. That's going to be a weird week when that happens. "Here's the AYITL ~5000 word conclusion and a 50,000 word one shot."

Yeah.

Disclaimer – You know how many songs there are about the month of November? A lot. We're talking December numbers here and December's got Christmas. Sure, November has Thanksgiving, but let's be honest. Thanksgiving is a horrible song subject and a terrible word to try and sing. Why am I bringing this all up? Mostly because writing disclaimers is boring and I wanted to talk about something more interesting than how I don't own the Teen Titans, but there's also a bit of a precedence here. I always ramble, and I simply MUST uphold my image. Seriously. I've got a photo in my hands right now.

A Year In The Life – November – November seems odd, you're my firing squad, November. (Tom Waits)

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The blue was incredible. He'd tried the red and green, but blue was completely brilliant. He idly wondered why slushies were described by their colors instead of their flavors, but blue was calling out to him, telling him where the largest cups were kept.

Cyborg barely looked up from his slushy crusade as Raven drifted by in a turban and scuba suit. Blue had him completely captivated.

Starfire was less captivated. She'd had plenty of experience with blue food; most of it involving combat. A drinkable form wasn't appealing. Raven's strange clothes made perfect sense to her though. Raven was just going to go snorkeling in the Middle East and didn't want to offend anyone; perfectly logical.

She put Silkie back into his basinet and walked over to the book section. There had to be something about earth boys and what to do when they were being stubborn. The book "Earth Boys Made Easy" caught her eye and she flew it to the cashier laughing.

Beast Boy and Robin were trying to decide how edible the ceiling was. Beast Boy believed it would taste horrible, but be mildly nutritious, while Robin believed it would taste excellent and have no redeeming value beyond that. They were currently removing one of the tiles from overhead to have a taste test.

Having spent a large portion of their lives training for disaster, the sound of screaming coming from outside pulled them out of their current activities as they sprang for the exits to see what the hubbub was about.

Robin, doing as much leading as possible, was outside first and spotted the horrific sight terrorizing the citizenry: A huge pile of Beast Boy's laundry.

With a cry of "Titans go!" they leapt into action. Raven used her powers to summon an overpriced box of laundry detergent from the convenience store they'd just been in. Starfire grabbed Cyborg and flew off towards the nearest body of water. Beast Boy and Robin charged headlong into the fearsome collective of socks, body suits, and underpants.

Raven was having trouble getting the detergent. The shop owner, despite his obvious fear of the creature that bellowed in a voice reminiscent of gargled toothpaste, but he refused to let Raven just take his merchandise.

So, they haggled.

She offered saving his life and the lives of people who might be his customers. He countered with ten dollars and eighty-five cents plus tax. She offered the rebuttal of it being the right thing to do. He continued to request the sum listed on the box. Plus tax.

They went back and forth a few times until they agreed upon the compromise of Raven not killing him herself and giving him the four dollars and a pack of gum she had on her.

Generic clothes cleaner made from lye and various chemicals that made the lye smell like summer rain, whatever that was supposed to smell like, in hand, Raven caught up quickly with Robin and Beast Boy.

The two of them had made some progress in driving the monstrosity towards the bay, but they'd reached a stalemate. The monster was determined to take Bayshore to Cesar Chavez but Robin thought 280 to 16th would have less traffic. Beast Boy was arguing for King Street instead of 16th because he still hadn't seen the Giants' new ballpark.

Their own compromise was to take Bayshore to the Vermont street exit, turn onto 16th and then onto 3rd, stop by the ballpark and end in McCovey Cove to meet up with Starfire and Cyborg.

As they made their way, they passed the time playing the alphabet game. Raven won by spotting an ad at a bus stop for the zoo.

The monster, trying to be make amends for causing such chaos and havoc bought everyone hotdogs and sodas from a street vendor near the ballpark and even offered to help lift the last piece of the giant shower Cyborg and Starfire had been constructing.

Waving a fond farewell as it was scrubbed into oblivion, it broke apart and Beast Boy was left with the task of putting it all out to dry.

He handed one end of the clothesline to the Jolly Green Giant and the other end to Jack at the top of the beanstalk, the two had agreed that Jack needed the gold more than the giant and no harm was done by either of them.

His laundry drying in a bright summer sun, Beast Boy strutted up to Raven, called her a cutie and promptly switched his ears out for rhinestones. Raven blushed furiously while Starfire, who had been listening in on her ham radio, did loop-the-loops in celebration.

Feeling like she needed to share her joy with her own boyfriend, she flew out of the tree house she was in and went off to find him.

After the battle Robin had decided to work on his stealth techniques and was currently impersonating a Fig Newton. The plate he was on was very convincing, but his cape was just too bright a yellow to be believed as the cake part of the cookie.

Not wanting to hurt his ego, she played along asking where he was and calling out to him. Robin giggled in response.

The giggling caught Starfire strangely. Even in her dreams, which she was sure this was, Robin did not giggle. He would smile and laugh and tell her the most wonderful things about his feelings, but Robin never giggled.

Something about actively knowing it wasn't real rather than passively doing so had broken the dream's hold on her. She started seeing how ridiculous everything was. She noticed how outdated some of the ideas the dream had shown were.

She also started to notice other things that didn't belong. Cyborg was being too quiet. Beast Boy hadn't transformed into any animals. Raven wasn't wearing cute clothes or her normal outfit. This wasn't her dream.

Starfire woke up in a chair at the dining room table. The others were still fast asleep and as she shook each in turn to try and wake them, calling each by name, they slept on with no change. When she calmed down again she could hear a faint humming coming from the kitchen. She flew as quietly as she could to investigate.

As she drew nearer the humming grew louder and there, behind the counter, rolling out piecrusts was Mother Mae-Eye. Starfire continued to glide along quietly, seeing if she could get close enough to grab the villainess's magic spoon. As she skulked along the underside of the counter she heard the old witch talking to herself.

It seems she had misplaced the cinnamon, which no pie could be complete without. Starfire used this distraction to pull around the side of the counter and up behind her. Once she was close enough she started to reach for the wooden spoon she saw sticking out of Mae-Eye's apron pocket when the old woman asked herself, clearly frustrated, where she had left the blasted cinnamon.

Starfire didn't mean to answer. It had just slipped out. Strangely, it took the witch a few moments to realize what had happened as she had initially thanked Starfire and reached up onto the high shelf where the little bottle sat. She'd started screaming bloody murder when she saw Starfire flying away with her spoon and ran after the redhead.

Starfire swooped and bolted, doing her best to keep out of reach as she tapped the spoon against every pie tin in the kitchen, but none of them reacted the way she needed them to.

She was forced to retreat behind the dining room table when Mother Mae-Eye had leapt over the counter. And ducked down behind the green bean casserole as she was, she spotted one more pie tin she hadn't tried yet and gave it a mighty whack. With a great swirling wind Mother Mae-Eye was sucked into the pie that landed hot and ready for serving on the table.

Now that Mother May-Eye was gone the other Titans finally started to wake up. Starfire greeted them all heartily and explained what had happened. Asking them why they hadn't noticed that their dreams were so strange.

Beast Boy and Cyborg both said their dreams were always strange and Robin thought it was something he ate, laughing at himself when he realized he was right. Raven refused to answer and quickly pulled her hood up when asked why she wouldn't tell.

In the end, they all agreed that next Thanksgiving they were just going to skip pie.

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(A/N) So, yeah, that happened. And before any of you come at me with cries of 'filler' or 'ran out of ideas' I'd like to point out that this is exactly what I had planned on writing for this chapter. My original note-to-self from four years ago even says, "November, Thanksgiving – Insanity – Just let my imagination get a little out of control; think 'Depth Takes a Holiday'."

Depth Takes a Holiday is an episode from the old cartoon Daria, which is where my username comes from. It was an extreme break from the show in that a lot of weird stuff happens that goes against the norm of sarcasm against an increasingly moronic world. It was delightful, but a lot of fans hated that it didn't feel like the rest of the show and they often considered it non-canon. I liked the idea of having things go insane without it being Larry, and came up with this.


	11. December

(A/N) With half my mind out to sea and half on shore I find myself thinking of times when both my halves were whole. In the end my time is not my own and the world wishes me harm. I strive to find my way back home again if I only knew which way to go.

Disclaimer – The French have a saying, actually they have a lot of them, but this particular one goes: Les absents ont toujours tort.

A Year In The Life – December – Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness. (Richard Bach)

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Cyborg was walking down the hall intent on brushing his teeth with acid and gargling a bucket of mouthwash. Beast Boy had dared him to try his new meat substitute claiming that it was perfect. Dirty, lying, green weed had made the toxic concoction himself and was using his meat loving ways to test it.

His way was suddenly impeded by Starfire looking both cheerful and sad. Her ability to show everything she was going through no matter how conflicting it might seem was impressive. "What's up, Star?"

She smiled then looked sheepish. "I have been tasked as the keeper of secret Santas this year. I have just had Robin pull a name from the hat of Claus and I know that you will not be happy with the name that is left. You are the last to draw."

"Aw, man. Did I get Beast Boy again? I get him every year!"

"No, Beast Boy has already been selected by another. I would have made Robin do the choosing again, but he seemed very happy with his choice."

Cyborg grinned. "He got you?"

Starfire nodded, fighting her own smile.

"If it's Rob, he's impossible to shop for. He never wants anything, and if he does, he just gets it himself."

"Robin has also already been picked from the hat."

Her blush said enough for Cyborg to know exactly who'd drawn that one. "Raven? She's not hard. A couple of gift cards for Barnes and Noble and she's set."

And here is where Starfire started to look very disappointed in her job as official keeper of the names for their annual secret Santa drawing. "No, Raven is also already chosen."

"Wait, you mean, me? Mine's the only name left?"

"It is not as bad as it seems!" She wanted to desperately to placate him. "I have been doing the thinking and I believe that you will turn this to your benefit."

Cyborg crossed his arms and gave Starfire a skeptical look. "How?"

"You do not usually seem highly pleased with the gifts you have received. They are cherished, but you do not use them beyond the Christmas day. Even the book Raven bought you has not been used."

"Well…it's not like I didn't like getting a book on Sumerian technology, but…okay, so maybe I'm not that easy to shop for either."

"This is why I believe that you will enjoy this. You may take what you would use for another's present and get the perfect gift for yourself instead. You will not have to return it or hide it under the couch or throw it away."

"Still don't know why Beast Boy thought I'd like pants that year."

He started giving the idea a little more thought. Yeah, it was a lot of fun buying presents for your friends and seeing their faces light up when you got it just right, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd actually spent money on himself. He was ignoring T-car purchases as that directly helped them in their jobs; it wasn't his fault that making something good enough to take on missions made it awesome.

"Alright, Star. I think I'm okay with it. And it's not like I'm not allowed to get you guys stuff if I change my mind."

"Glorious!"

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Raven was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how in the world she'd ended up in this situation. As happened every year, a hat had been brought to her in privacy, Starfire had the honor this year, and she, being the most reluctant to participate, was first to pick as usual.

It seemed like a cruel joke and a wonderful opportunity wrapped too tightly together to separate. Beast Boy. Why did she have to pull Beast Boy's name?

Starfire had laughed and talked rapidly about what a great thing it was because of all the things she could say with the right gift, all of them being some admission of romantic feelings. And then she'd started describing daydreams about Beast Boy declaring his love and passion and dates and marriage and two kids, a dog, and a white picket fence.

It was shortly after this outburst that Starfire was ejected from Raven's room.

And the worst part was, she liked the road Starfire's thoughts had taken. She didn't like that Star liked to do ninety down it, but…there was an annoying urge to smile when she let her own imagination take a peak in the direction Starfire had sped off in.

And now she was staring at her ceiling wondering what in the world Beast Boy would enjoy that might help the boy to look down that same road too – without scaring him off.

It'd be easier learning another language. Actually, it really would be; especially with the headway she'd been making in ancient Greek. She decided to distract herself for a while by doing what she always did to get away – she read.

She'd barely cracked the book open when there was a knock at her door. Not wanting to get up, she just called out, "I'm reading."

"I'm Beast Boy" came the reply through the door followed by a little giggle.

Trying to figure out why she was attracted to someone who could be so immature, she got off her bed to answer. "What do you want Beast Boy?"

As she opened the door he held out both his hands. "Pick one."

She looked down and saw bookmarks clearly sticking out of his clenched fists. One had kittens on it and the other had stylized writing that she couldn't quite read with his hand in the way. "Where'd you get these?" She took the one with the writing.

"They came with a package I got today. So, what's that one say? I think it's just the word 'read' over and over in a bunch of languages, but I'm not sure."

"Well, that's German." She said pointing to one. He sidled around to get a better look. "And this is Italian. There's Spanish, French, Portuguese. I think that's Chinese and that's probably Japanese. That's Romanian, Greek, Latin. That looks like it could be Arabic and I don't know that one."

"I do!" He sounded so proud of himself. "It's Swahili! It's the only one I knew."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't read English?"

He playfully rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant. But, you can read all of those?"

"Some. I know Romanian, so the languages that are part of the same family are a little easier to figure out. I don't know what they say for sure, but since everything I can read says 'Read', I think you're right about them all being that."

"What other ones could you understand?"

"Not too many actually. Latin and German, and I'm learning Greek, but this is modern and I'm studying ancient."

"Cool. I totally knew you'd pick the smart bookmark over the cute one. Star won't mind though." He smiled as he turned to walk down the hall.

"Aren't you keeping one?"

"Dude, mine's already tucked away in my favorite book." He tried continuing on his way, but Raven asked another question.

"You have a favorite book? It's more than just pictures, right?"

"Ha, ha, Raven. Of course it is…sort of. It's the first book in that zoological encyclopedia you guys got me for my birthday a few years back."

"Good to know it hasn't gone to waste. Did Robin ever tell you how expensive that was?"

"Yeah, he likes to bring it up whenever I ask for money." Beast Boy looked over Ravens head at her bookcase. "Which book's your favorite?"

Raven looked over her shoulder to follow his gaze. "I don't have just one. Everything in here is a favorite for one reason or another. If I didn't really care for the book I'd sell it, if it's valuable, or give it to Goodwill, if it isn't."

"Got anything new lately?"

"No, I'm just reading to study right now. I've got a few ancient texts that I want to be able to read, so I'm fixing that."

"Right, the old Greek."

"Ancient."

"Whatever. Hey, I'm going to the mall later, did you want to go? Maybe grab something fun to read for when you're tired of studying?"

The mall? It was bad enough she got dragged there by Starfire a minimum of once a month, but it might mean getting to see what he wanted for Christmas. "Sure, but I don't want to spend the whole time in the arcade or a comic shop."

"No problem!"

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The mall. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy…wait, no. Hold on; just need to flip the cassette here. Should have had it on side A. A quick rewind to get it back to the start, aaaaaand we're good to go. Sorry about that, back to the story.

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The mall. Raven wasn't sure what she hated more, the crowds of people that gave her headaches with their emotional white noise, the shops that tried a little too hard to stand out from all the other shops that were trying too hard, the blatant lie that was any poster claiming good deals and discounts, or the incessantly chipper top forty radio station that was always droning on in the background.

She knew the truth was that she always hated the crowds the most. She just didn't like being caught up in the crush of humanity, and the mall brought out a mean spirit in a lot of people; not to mention all the petty thievery happening all over the place. Starfire had taught her that it was best to just do enough for mall security to take over. No need to file reports or make statements if all you were doing was making it easy for them to do their job.

Starfire liked pretending she thought they were buying whatever it was they were trying to steal, going so far as to tag along until they paid for it or put it back. Raven just liked to make the idiots as obvious as possible; a turn of a few cameras or lights turning on in just the right place.

Beast Boy apparently liked stealing all the merchandise back without the would-be-thief noticing. He explained that since most of them were kids anyway, he liked the idea of them getting home or wherever and then not finding anything. He thought if he did it enough they'd assume they were bad at stealing and go do something else.

Having amused themselves enough with making thieves look bad, Raven and Beast Boy started exploring shops in earnest. Raven's preference was to bookstores and places with enough of a macabre look to be tolerable. Beast Boy's was any place with flashing lights, video games, or cartoons.

If they had brought Starfire they would have gone into every shop in the entire place.

True to his word though, Beast Boy had been very brief in his friendly local comic shop and had turned down even a brief jaunt into the arcade; something Raven was grateful for. Trying to keep things fair, Raven kept her wandering in bookstores to a minimum.

She would have given up on visiting a few of the shops she liked, but Beast Boy insisted on going places she wanted to go to. She was getting frustrated at how little of his own shopping he was doing as it meant she wasn't learning a single thing about possible Christmas presents. The closest to a hint she'd gotten was a few oohs and aahs while they were in a curio shop she liked, but those cheesy statues of mythical creatures and wizards felt like they were mocking her reality a little too much for them to be considered.

When they stopped for lunch Beast Boy offered to pay. Raven gave him a skeptical look. "Why does it feel like you weren't really planning on coming here?"

He gave a sheepish grin. "'Cause I wasn't. I just wanted to hang out, is that so bad?"

"Not really, and you've been pretty well behaved."

"I can do sit and rollover too." He shifted into a dog to demonstrate, giving a little bark after.

"Miss? Miss, I'm sorry, but we don't allow pets inside the mall except for service animals."

A security guard was making his way over to their table. Raven could just make out his nametag reading Stan as he worked his way through the tables. "Stay." She decided to give Beast Boy a bit of fun.

"I'm sorry, miss, but the dog will have to go outside."

"What about cats? Are they allowed?"

"No, I'm sorry, but…" A soft mewling sound distracted him and he looked down to see a kitten with giant eyes where the dog had been.

"Gerbils?"

"What?" A gerbil was now running back and forth over the tops of his shoes.

"Squirrels? Geese? Goats? Penguins?" Beast Boy had changed into each animal as she'd called them out.

"Miss, just what do you think you're pulling here?" Stan was looking a little upset.

"You have no idea who I am, do you?"

"Afraid I don't, miss. Are you supposed to be someone important? And don't try saying you're Raven from the Teen Titans, we get fifty of you girls dressing up like her a day." A little bit past upset, Stan was kicking into 'watch it before you're kicked out' mode.

"And do they have a green friend who can change into animals?"

Stan looked startled. "It's green?"

"See for yourself." Raven gestured to the duck dancing like it was from a commercial.

"Actually, miss, I'm colorblind. I wouldn't know he was green if he were fifty feet tall."

Raven shifted in her chair feeling suddenly guilty. "Oh."

The duck had stopped dancing as well. Beast Boy was suddenly himself again back in his own seat at the table. "Sorry."

Stan straightened up a little, it wasn't every day you got to one-up people like the Teen Titans. "Just try to behave yourselves."

"Yes, sir." They called out in unison.

Stan walked back to his post knowing that he was going to win that night's 'Best Story' brag session with the other guards.

Raven looked up at Beast Boy, still feeling a bit awkward about the whole situation.

"Hey, Rae? If it's any consolation, it was really funny." He gave a lopsided smile and started clearing up his garbage.

She gave her own small smile and followed his example and helped clear the table. "Thank you. And, Beast Boy?"

"Yeah, Rae?"

"I had fun. We should do this again some time."

"Totally!" In his enthusiasm he missed the garbage can and dumped his trash onto the floor. He was hurriedly making to pick it up when a black glow encased it all and propelled it to where it belonged. "Thanks, Rae."

"You're welcome, now get off the floor and let's go."

He happily followed her retreating figure.

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Raven hated feeling like those silly little schoolgirls who wrote her fan letters sometimes. They'd talk about how hard it was being different and they would always tell her about their crushes even though she never answered their letters. They'd say that the guy made them feel special and less alone and go on and on in the sappiest language they could devise.

But now, here she was, thinking about Beast Boy in the most girlish way her imagination could come up. She was sure if she had a binder or journal there would be hearts on it. It disgusted her.

And on top of everything, she still had no idea what to get him. She knew what stores he liked, but he hadn't gone in any of them for more than a minute or two. If only he had. He could have taken her to that game store and she would have known what game that was coming out soon he'd like. If he'd done more than just collect the comics he was already subscribed to she could have grabbed something from his favorite artist or a collection he might like. If, if, if.

Instead he'd taken her on something that felt exactly like date and she was sure he'd just done it to hang out like he'd said.

Staring at her ceiling, trying to ignore how much she'd enjoyed their not-a-date and getting her mind back onto the subject of Christmas. "What do I get you that you'll like that tells you maybe I wouldn't mind doing stuff like today more often?"

She sat up slowly and gave herself a half smile. It was the perfect idea. Starfire was going to go nuts about it; she just hoped the alien would have sense enough to do it in private.

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Christmas day was finally there and each of the Titans looked highly excited to give out the presents they'd gotten one another. Robin and Starfire had traded packages first. Starfire had burst with enthusiasm at her present of a cookbook with a note that said Robin would eat whatever she made from it. He'd also been quite happy with his set of Tameranean caltrops. The little balls would pop midair to create a minefield that would knock flyers out of the air.

Cyborg had been modest and bought himself an entry into the upcoming Robot Wars competition. He was positive his entry would either win or be selected as one of the house robots. The name Baby Face Smasher was being thrown around.

With the others occupied by their own gifts, Raven sidled up to Beast Boy and handed him a small envelope with a, "Merry Christmas" mumbled out. He returned the favor by handing her the kind of present she was used to – one that was book shaped.

Too shy to watch him open what she'd gotten him, she pulled the wrapping paper off her own present. The cover caught her off-guard as it was in Greek. She worked her way through and was able to at least make out that it said 'Philogelos,' but had no idea what that meant.

Beast Boy leaned over to her, the card in his hands unopened. "It's good, right? I couldn't afford original stuff since it's all in museums and stuff, but this was a reproduction that I thought you'd like."

"It's fine, but I'm not good enough to know what it says yet."

"I thought about that, which is why I got you this too." And he handed her another wrapped book.

She tore the paper off of this one and saw that she'd at least read the title correctly as this book was called 'Philogelos: The Laugh Addict.' "What is this?"

Beast Boy started laughing. "It's the oldest joke book in the world."

"You bought me a joke book." He nodded smiling maniacally. "An ancient Greek joke book."

"Kind of." She waited for him to go on. "Well, it's not really ancient Greek, it's something called…uh…coin Greek."

"You mean Koine. It means common."

"Right, it's the Greek they used right after they were done with the ancient stuff."

"And this other book is the translation?"

"Yep." His smile was so large.

Raven softly chuckled. "Thank you, Beast Boy. It's just weird enough that I really do believe you thought it up."

"I'm taking that as a compliment." He said as he opened his card. "Cool!"

"You like it?" She gave him a sidelong glance.

"It's perfect. You'll really go all these places with me when I use these coupon things?"

"Yes, Beast Boy. If you want some company, I'll go exactly where each coupon says. You can use them whenever you want or all at the same time. It's your choice."

"The arcade, the Millennium restaurant, the comic shop, there's a bunch of them here!"

"There're some duplicates."

"That's even better! Thank you, Raven." And he hugged her before running off to show the others.

Blushing slightly, Raven smiled to herself for giving herself the gift of dates with Beast Boy even if he didn't know what she was doing; Merry Christmas indeed.

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That night, as she was reading through the translation of her new book, shaking her head in disbelief at how many of these jokes Beast Boy had told her before, a knocking came at the door.

She opened it a crack to find Starfire floating outside. "What is it, Star?"

Her smile was so devious. "Beast Boy enjoyed your present greatly. He spoke of it most of the morning."

"Yeah, I know. I was there." Raven was getting the distinct impression her friend was hiding something.

"Are you not most joyous that he was the name you received from your drawing?"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Yes. I suppose I am. Why?"

And Starfire grinned in a way that would've given Beast Boy's most impish smile a run for the money. "I have done the cheating. All of the names in the hat were Beast Boy's."

Raven's mouth fell open. "You did that to me on purpose?" Starfire nodded laughing. "You realize I'll get you back for that."

"That would be most wonderful, Raven. Thank you." And she flew off laughing before Raven could respond.

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(A/N) In response to that little French saying I often like to reply, "Excusez-moi, s'il vous plaît ne parle pas français, je ne le comprends pas." All this roughly translates to words, but mostly I've decided to put that I don't own the Teen Titans here at the end.


	12. January

(A/N) The penultimate chapter! If you're going to try and solve the code in chapter 3 you've only got till the next chapter is posted. Multiple character death, surprise pairings, suicide, zombies, and my brand new OC are all things you will not be seeing in this fic. If you do want those things, you might need to find a different fic author. And to answer FelynxTiger's question, yes.

Disclaimer – I have been a hockey league director, low-level IT tech, buyer, swing manager at a McDonalds, office clerk, receptionist, and a customer service representative. None of those implies even the slightest bit of ownership of a successful brand like the Teen Titans.

A Year In The Life – January – The dead of midnight is the noon of thought. (Anna Letitia Barbauld)

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It was too cold. Not just normal cold, but way too freaking cold. Beast Boy kept having the urge to shift into something a little more suited to the winter weather. It wasn't fair; he thought to himself, it's not supposed to get this cold on the coast. He stuck his hands tightly under his arms in an attempt to get the blood in them a little less icy. His breath puffing out in miniature clouds in front of him was his only entertainment as he trudged in the rear of the Titans walking to some...thing…Robin had arranged.

It was the day after Christmas and Beast Boy was having trouble keeping up his usual frenzied excitement for the holiday season they were in the middle of. He was sure his Christmas spirit was as frozen as his fingers.

Having finally given up on dealing with his less than warm clothing, he morphed into a polar bear. This was unfortunately the same moment that Robin turned around from the head of their little parade and announced that they had arrived. Feeling only slightly disgruntled, Beast Boy slipped back into his normal self and stared up at a tall, impressive-looking building.

"Why didn't we just take the car?"

His question hung in the air before Cyborg offered his opinion. "No parking?"

"Then why didn't we all just fly? Starfire could've carried Robin and Raven or me would've carried you."

Cyborg smiled a little. "Maybe Robin just wanted an excuse to walk hand in hand with Star."

"Maybe he did." Robin said as he held the tall, glass door open for everyone.

They all filed into a room that was only marginally wider than it was tall, giving off an impression of importance and wealth as it stretched off into the distance. The walls and floor were all done in marble and the Titans' footsteps echoed sharply from all sides; excluding Starfire and Raven who were both gliding gently along as was their custom.

Robin walked up to a smartly dressed receptionist sitting behind a dark mahogany desk with an area that had obviously been set-aside for people to walk up to. Beast Boy yawned deeply as Robin announced that they had an appointment. Something clicked in Beast Boy's head and he leaned over to Cyborg as the receptionist asked Robin to wait while she made a call.

"Dude, I think we've been here before."

Cyborg looked around him. "Nah, man, I would've remembered something this styling."

Beast Boy stared up at the ceiling for a little. "I think we fought Slade on the roof or something."

"I remember that." Cyborg looked around again until he found something with the corporation's name on it. "Hey, it is. It's that Wayne Enterprises' building where Slade started talking about making Rob his apprentice."

"Wonder why we're here."

"Dunno."

They were saved from their inability to read Robin's mind as the receptionist announced that Mr. Wayne would see them now and that the gentleman in the security suit would escort them up to the board room.

Silence again dominated as they followed the guard, whose name turned out to be Stan. Beast Boy sighed as he watched the lighted numbers steadily climb higher until they reached their maximum and the doors slid open. Stan walked steadily forward down the corridor, passing a few imposing looking office doors with large name plates marking what important person worked behind them. After taking a turn or two they came to a double door marked as the East Conference Room.

Inside was a long and expensive looking solid oak table with several high backed over-stuffed leather chairs set comfortably apart from one another. The double doors had opened at one end of the table with a bay of windows running along one side while a number of video screens and white boards lined the wall on the other. In Beast Boy's mind it very clearly said 'Big business goes on in here, so don't expect anything fun to take away your boredom; and quit slouching.'

In a show of childish rebellion, Beast Boy slouched farther. He almost didn't notice the calm, grey haired man standing by another pair of double doors at the far end of the room, his hands held neatly behind him. Robin obviously had and walked over to shake the man's hand, both of them talking low and smiling.

Starfire glided over and was much easier to hear as she asked for an introduction.

"This is Alfred Pennyworth, Star. Alfred, this is Starfire. She's the one from another planet."

"A delight to meet you, miss Starfire. Master Robin has always been most warm in his remarks concerning you."

Starfire looked a little confused, but must have figured out that what the older gentleman had said was probably a compliment. Her hesitant speech gave her away even more though. "I…thank you?"

Robin smiled as only one who is completely taken with another can. "He means I always say nice things about you."

Beast Boy started to tune out as Starfire blushed softly and thanked Alfred a little more demurely. Sure, it was nice that Robin and Star doing good, but it stopped being fun to watch when he and Cyborg realized that Robin wouldn't blush about it anymore. Now it was just kind of awkward when they got…mushy.

He was saved from having to turn his back on the situation when a tall man in a dark blue suit came through one of the doors near Robin. He seemed to command attention, though his kind smile tried to make them feel at ease. Only Robin and the butler, as he had told Starfire he was, seemed unaffected by it.

Beast Boy let go of his apprehension for what the room was asking him to do and straightened up. He watched as Starfire landed gently somewhat behind Robin, while Cyborg and Raven took on dignified poses. He almost let out a laugh as he realized that Raven was looking more imposing because she was rising a little higher in the air. Another help to keep him from laughing came when she turned to glare at him at the slight peep of noise.

"Please, everyone take a seat." The man's voice sounded different than Beast Boy had guessed it would. It was a pleasing tone with an accepting, yet dignified resonance. The kind of tone you'd wish all overly-wealthy people conveyed. After everyone had found seats close to the head of the table, he spoke again. "Welcome. I'd like to thank you all for coming, and to explain, Robin and I are well acquainted through a mutual friend of ours. I called in a favor, and Robin was kind enough to agree to it and to even bring the rest of you here to see if you would help me as well."

"This doesn't sound like something we normally do."

"You would be correct in assuming that, miss…"

"Just Raven would be fine."

"Yes, I thought that was your name, but it would have been impolite to presume." He nodded his head lightly in what was probably an apology. "Now, what I would like to ask of all of you is to attend a charity ball on New Year's Eve."

"Pretty straight to the point, but us going to your dance is doing you a favor?"

He smiled at Beast Boy, and Beast Boy got the distinct impression that he had expected it…maybe even planned on him saying that. "It is when what I need you to do there is explained."

"So far it sounds all right, but shouldn't you at least tell us your name first? You are Bruce Wayne, aren't you?"

Another smile came; this one seemed similar to the one Beast Boy received, though it looked like he was trying to look a little embarrassed. "Yes, please excuse me, my name _is_ Bruce Wayne, and I'd prefer if you'd all call me Bruce."

Beast Boy couldn't help himself. "Dude, you've, like, gotta be richer than Bill Gates!"

Bruce laughed in a deep and heartfelt chuckle. "I'm afraid that Bill's earnings far outstrip mine, but I do alright for myself."

"You're on a first name basis with Bill Gates? That's pretty sick." Cyborg said smiling appreciatively.

"Come on, guys, we didn't come here to talk about Bruce's money."

Bruce laughed silently to himself. "It's quite alright, Robin, but you're right. We should get back to the charity ball. The reason it would be a favor for me for the five of you to come is how we're raising money this year. It's a costume party and the only attendees will be celebrities of one kind or another. We have a number of charities that will benefit this year, and it's all built around a game."

"What kind of game?"

"A costume contest of course, but with a twist. The idea is to not be discovered. Everyone in attendance will have a number of tags, equal to the number of people at the ball. If you figure out who someone is, you quietly whisper to them who you think they are, and if you're right, you get one of their tags. Everyone pledges so much money for each tag before they come and at the end of the evening, everyone pays out."

Beast Boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Uh, we don't really have that kind of money, as cool as it all sounds."

Bruce smiled at Beast Boy. "Which is exactly why I'm sponsoring all of you. It's a way for me to offer more without it looking like a publicity stunt."

"Sweet."

"There is one catch though. None of you are allowed to use your powers to figure out who anyone else is, well, except for Robin since deduction is what everyone else is using." Bruce leaned a little bit back into his chair. "There's also a prize for the person who collects the most tags from other people and another for the person with the most tags left."

"I like it, but what do you guys think?" Robin said, smiling at them from the chair closest to Bruce.

Beast Boy found himself, and everyone else he noticed, looking to Raven. It seemed that if she said yes, it was easy to know that they all did. She caught the meaning of it and muttered out a simple "Fine." before fading even farther back into her hood.

"Wonderful, Alfred has your invitations as well as the contest rules. There's a list of the charities if you're interested as well. Ah, yes, one other thing. Don't forget to keep your costumes secret from each other."

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The next few days were filled with a lot of secrecy and hiding in rooms as they all prepared for the ball. Raven took a small bit of pleasure listening to the others complain about how difficult it was proving to be. New Year's was just another silly holiday to her, but doing something fun for charity was good enough. Plus, she knew she had the perfect costume. No one would guess who she was except for maybe Robin.

She had gone over what she would do as soon as they had finished the meeting with Wayne. The items she'd needed were simple to gather, but she'd had to practice how she was going to act, move, and talk for at least an hour each day to get everything right. And nobody had a better hiding spot than she did when she wanted to go unheard. Sometimes being able to step inside your own mind had its benefits.

Between her conviction that her costume would be impenetrable and the shrewd belief that Robin, who probably already had dossiers on all the guests, would correctly guess nearly everyone Raven was sure the Titans would be coming home with both of the special prizes – a secret getaway for two and a complete collection of first edition Sherlock Holmes books. She would just trade the trip to Robin for the books.

Checking the clock on her nightstand she quickly donned her costume and teleported into the city where she could catch a taxi. Each of the Titans had agreed to leave at different times to avoid seeing each other's costumes – she'd drawn the shortest straw and had to leave first.

After waiting around till it was time to get to the party itself Raven's cab arrived and made the short ride to the posh hotel the ball was at. There was an honest to goodness red carpet with reporters and photographers crammed in on both sides that asked tons of questions she couldn't quite hear while flashbulbs half blinded her. But she had been prepared for this – she'd already started playing her role while waiting for the cab. She simply smiled as large as she could, laughed giddily at the attention and strode past everyone saying she'd answer questions after.

The ballroom wasn't far beyond the main lobby, with its leather armchairs and unnecessary televisions. The ballroom itself had been done up in that overly gaudy Louis the XIV style – everything extremely ornate with red, gold leafing, and marble everywhere. It wasn't an unpleasant look, merely much too showy for Raven's sedate tastes.

Raven was glad to see that she wasn't the first to arrive, though there did appear to be quite a number of people still to come. Not wanting to wait until the press of people would be at its maximum, she decided to start trying to figure out who was who. She was sure Cyborg would be easy, as would Beast Boy – they both stuck out too much to really hide without it being obvious that they would be the ones who had done quite a lot of covering up.

In fact…

Raven walked calmly up to the person in the overly large gorilla suit and started chatting with them. She kept her voice in that overly bubbly tone that she'd worked so hard to get down pat and smiled broadly as she heard a voice that was so obviously Cyborg that she made sure to let the conversation go on longer just to hide how quickly she'd figured him out. A few minutes later she leaned in with a sly grin and whispered out, "Say, um, are you that Cyborg guy from the Teen Titans?"

His laughing reply of "Caught." as he pulled a ticket stub out of his pocket was met with another giggle from Raven. She gave him a little wink as she started to walk away when he called out "Wait!" and whispered his guess about who she was. She shook her head and walked back off into the crowd. He'd guessed a little starlet that was known for some romantic movie that had come out last year.

Raven continued this pattern of pulling back from the crowd as she looked for somebody she might know before chatting them up to try and confirm her suspicion. Starfire had been a little tricky because she was acting with all the royal pomp that her upbringing had taught her and in doing so had made a very convincing foreign princess, but there were times when her steps took a little too long to touch back onto solid ground again.

Robin had been a little easier because he just couldn't keep himself away from Starfire. His Chips costume was perfect, and the bullet proof vest under the shirt did a good job hiding his body shape, but once she'd known who Starfire was dressed as, the officer asking her to dance over and over again was too much of a giveaway.

Beast Boy hardly looked like he'd tried at all but, as Raven got closer to him, she had started second guessing herself. The face looked right, except there was green makeup rubbing off to reveal a normal fleshy tone along most of the clothes' lines and close to his hair. And his hair was different too – it was heavily styled into a very regular spiked pattern instead of his normal messy top; clearly a wig. The uniform was wrong too. It looked homemade and the pattern of purple and green parts was much more simplistic. It wasn't until she'd sidled up right next to him that she realized it really was him. There was no hiding that voice.

Looking closer as she started in with her giggly opening she saw that it was the flesh tone that was the makeup and that the uniform was probably something he'd made himself. It really wasn't a bad costume when it came right down to it. People would think he was Beast Boy, then get close and change their minds. But Raven smiled triumphantly when she whispered it in his ear in as vapid a voice as she could manage. Letting him think that she'd just been too stupid to notice his tricks got a defeated little nod as he handed over a ticket stub.

The hardest thing to do with her costume was the dancing. Luckily, Wayne had tried to keep withn the ball concept and had kept the music in that range where more traditional dances were the norm. Acting so engaging the whole night meant that plenty asked her onto the floor. She'd go along with it, because it was important that she not break character and give away who she really was. Not one single person had even come close, and most kept guessing the same actress Cyborg had. It was extremely satisfying for her knowing that she'd even fooled Robin so far. She really doubted it would last – process of elimination would get her caught in the end, but at least he'd keep it a secret if she asked him to so that no one else would know what she'd been acting like all evening.

It was starting to get towards the end of the night when he finally guessed. And, as expected, he'd guessed right, but admitted it was because there weren't any other female guests left to figure out. She was getting a bottle of water when she saw Beast Boy finishing up a dance and making his way over to the beverages. He was smiling as he drank half the bottle in one go before pointing out how he'd forgotten to make his guess about who she was. Raven made a surprised smile and said, "Hey, that's right! So, who am I?" and she made yet another giggle as she struck a pose.

Beast Boy gave her face a scrutinizing look with a "Hmm…" and asked for a dance instead saying he'd guess at the end. She agreed, glad that she'd seen him dance first so that she knew he wouldn't tread on her dress. Raven didn't let the surprise of hearing a low waltz start up throw her off and kept her face as interested and upbeat as she could.

He took a very traditional ballroom dancing pose and off they went. Beast Boy was surprisingly good at this and Raven found herself not having to try so hard at maintaining her smile.

"You know what? I think I do recognize you."

"Really? A lot of people keep thinking that." She gave off another of her fake giggles.

"Yeah, but I think I got this one. I watch a lot of TV and movies."

Her smile widened. "You've seen me in movies?"

A smile started to curl up one side of his mouth. "Not in movies, but I've seen you on TV lots of times."

"Lots, huh? So, I'm on a show you like?"

"Not really." His smile was sliding up the other side of his face.

Raven tried to look confused in character rather than her normal confused. "Is it a show your girlfriend makes you watch or something?"

Beast Boy's smile burst into full form. "Don't got a girlfriend."

"Then why…"

Raven found herself interrupted by the sound of the crowd counting down to midnight together. She joined in with a strange apprehension in the back of her mind that only intensified into the forefront of her thoughts when she remembered what traditionally happened at midnight.

Beast Boy was just staring ahead with his fun-loving smile on. Raven found herself staring at him as they drew to the finish and he turned just as he shouted out 'one' with everyone else.

He was leaning forward and Raven found herself copying him. It was just a quick peck on the lips, but her eyes took a little longer to open than she realized they should have.

"Happy New Year, Raven." She heard him whisper as her eyes shot open. He was grinning like the cat that caught the canary as she shook her head smiling to grab a ticket stub from her purse.

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Bruce Wayne was striding up to the bandstand with a microphone in his hand, waving to the applause of the crowd. His nutcracker prince costume didn't even have a mask. "Ladies and gentlemen, friends, it's time to see who our two winners for the evening are. First up is the Top Sleuth prize of a complete set of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works, all first editions. Okay, folks, can anybody beat my seven?"

"Fifteen!" Called out one guest. "Twenty-seven!" Called out another. "One hundred forty-six." Called out someone dressed as a highway patrol officer. The crowd went fairly silent after that. Robin strode forward fighting against a bit of a smug smile.

Bruce was laughing gently into the microphone. "I think we have our winner. Come on up and claim your prize." There was a general smattering of applause as Robin was handed a case with a number of different size books inside. "So, who is our super sleuth?"

Robin leaned over to the microphone. "I'm Robin, from the Teen Titans." Another round of applause as he shook Bruce's hand and left the stage.

"Moving along, we now have our Best Disguise prize, a secret getaway for two. I'm really out of contention here as every one of my tags was claimed. So, who thinks they've got this won?"

Raven strode forward calling out that she'd only given up two tickets. Beast Boy called out from behind her saying he'd only lost one. He gave her a boyish grin as he finished walking up to Bruce.

"Congratulations! I don't think I've ever been to one of these events where one guest has dressed up like another. Before we give you your prize, I've got to know who you are."

Beast Boy gave an appreciative giggle and pulled off his wig to reveal hair that was the same color underneath. "I'm Beast Boy."

"You dressed up as yourself?" Bruce looked shocked. "Well then, here you are." He said as he handed Beast Boy a sealed manila envelope. "Inside you'll find the details for your getaway. Everything about the trip has been kept secret to try and match your own skill at hiding, though I must say, I doubt the trip will be to Jump City." His small joke got a mild laugh from the rest of the crowd and a brief applause.

Beast Boy gave a wave as he went to stand next to Raven. She eyed him with a small smile that was half annoyed and half impressed.

"Robin didn't figure you out?"

He let a triumphant smile beam out. "He kept over thinking it. I dressed like this just to fool him. I didn't think it'd work on everybody else."

"What was all that about seeing me on TV?"

"I was talking about the news, of course. You did pretty good too. You almost fooled me."

"What tipped you off?" Raven's face was tired and a little sore from all the smiling she'd done the whole evening, but she couldn't stop herself.

"You kept laughing and smiling. The way you're dressed and that wig and everything had me thinking you were some actress from that romance movie Star was watching last week, but something about the way you laughed and smiled made me think I was wrong."

"But I don't laugh or smile like that."

"I know, but…there's just something about your smile that clicks in my head. You're not miserable or anything, but you don't really smile a lot. So, when you do, I pay attention. I guess I know when it's you smiling even if it doesn't really look like you. It's the same thing with your laugh, and that's even more rare, so I pay extra attention with that."

Raven was glad the makeup she was wearing would hide her blush. "That's very flattering."

"Does that mean I can steal another kiss?"

Her breath caught for a moment. "No, but I'll give you a small one if you don't tell Cyborg or Starfire I dressed like this."

"Deal."

"Close your eyes." He did as he was told and she kissed his cheek.

He opened his eyes grinning at her. "It's a start."

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(A/N) Before any of you ask, of course Bruce Wayne wasn't surprised that he was Beast Boy. The Batman knew who everyone was within fifteen minutes of them entering the room.


	13. February, Again

(A/N) This is the end, beautiful friend. This is the end my only friend, the end.

The Doors are one of my all time favorite bands. Ray Manzarek is an absolute fiend at the organ and I love every bit of it.

Disclaimer – To quote a famous military man, "Nuts!"

A Year In The Life – February – It's so funny whenever things come full circle. (Swoosie Kurtz)

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It was a dark and stormy night outside Raven's room. No, really, it was. The rains had started in late January and had stuck around through the beginning of February.

Raven was standing just outside her room, frozen in place. Starfire was smiling brightly at her with her arms outstretched, an envelope in one hand and a small package in the other.

Shaking off her stupor, Raven took the presents from Starfire's hands. "Didn't we do this last year?"

"You do not like traditions?" Starfire's smile doubled.

"I'm not sure yet, but why not somebody else this year?"

"Everything has already been established. I will have to give the gifts to another some other year."

"You didn't buy me any clothes, did you?" Apprehension was written all over her face.

"Raven," Starfire said exasperatedly, "you have made it abundantly clear that you prefer no one buy you clothing. I have not broken your desire."

She eyed her warily. "That's what you said before you got me that sweater."

"And you have enjoyed it. You still wear it when it is cool and you wish to forgo your cloak, yes?"

Raven gave a stubborn little grump. "I still don't want any clothes."

Starfire rolled her eyes. "I promise that I shall not buy you nor give you any clothing with what is planned this week."

"Good. Thank you."

"You are not welcome. I am of the mind that I should take back what I have presented."

Feeling a little guilty, just a little though – Starfire's usual clothing gifts were far from acceptable – Raven offered a bit of an olive branch. "I'm sorry, Star. I'm just very picky about my clothes. Everything you got me last year was perfect and that globe you got for my birthday is beautiful."

Starfire has never learned how to accept a real compliment any other way than with smiles and proved her weakness now. "Do the opening of your present, I will be back tomorrow with another."

"You really don't have to." Raven called out, just quiet enough that the alien didn't hear it as she flew away. Who doesn't like getting presents?

Taking a seat on her bed she decided to open the card first. In Starfire's boxy script it read:

_Raven,_

_You mean more to me now than ever before. I am very grateful to know you and hope to learn many things about you in years to come._

_Your Secret Admirer_

Raven smiled to herself. Starfire could be so quaint when she was dead set on following through with what she wanted to do. Her smile grew as she turned her attention to the small package.

It was simple brown paper with string knotting it all in place. The wrapping fell off when she gave the knot a gentle tug. The box underneath was a plain wooden case, like you might get from a craft store, with the word 'Beauty' stenciled onto it. Inside she found a small hand mirror with another note, which read:

_So that you may see what I see._

Starfire could be so weird. It made perfect sense, but it was still weird. They'd been talking just the other day about how their respective beaus had been fairly complimentary towards their looks lately. She had been a bit disbelieving at Beast Boy's insistence of how pretty she was and Starfire had almost shouted at her for doubting him.

Her beau. That was such a beautiful lie. Beast Boy hadn't done anything beyond cashing in most of his coupons from Christmas. Sure, because of those and his offers to go to places she liked in return, they were going out quite a lot, but it hadn't gone anywhere beyond his occasional flirting and her increased smiling.

Part of her desperately wanted him to find some stupid excuse to kiss her again, but Saint Patrick's Day was still a ways off. Maybe she could trick Cyborg into daring him to do it; he was always willing to pull those kinds of things.

The rest of her was arguing about whether or not it was better to have fake dates rather than real ones. The side for said that fake dates were better than no dates at all; the side against thought fake dates blocked the possibility of real ones.

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The bad weather continued into the next day. Raven enjoyed listening to the sounds of a good thunderstorm and had stayed tucked in bed, warm and cozy for longer than was her norm. Feeling that she'd indulged herself enough, she got up so she could get ready for the day and grab whatever Starfire had left her in the hall.

She was a little disappointed that the hall was bare and wondered if she'd been a bit too callous towards Starfire by telling her what kinds of presents she wasn't allowed to give. She resolved to apologize again and thank her for the little mirror.

After wandering into the kitchen to get some toast and a glass of juice, she was surprised to find Beast Boy playing video games in the common room. Beast Boy up before ten was fairly unusual. He was the only true night owl on the team (Robin didn't count, as he was only an insomniac), so he usually got the late night shift on patrol duty.

She took a seat a little ways from him, setting her juice onto a coaster on the coffee table. He looked up at the thump of noise and Raven was jolted by how bloodshot his eyes looked.

"Didn't you get any sleep?"

He laughed wearily. "Not really. Storm's been keeping me up." As if to demonstrate, he gave a small jolt as a clap of thunder rolled over the tower.

"Why not just change into something that isn't bothered by it?"

"I keep changing back into me as soon as I'm asleep." He gave a deep yawn and drifted away for a moment. "It wouldn't be so bad if it were something stupid like it scaring me or hurting my ears or something. Instead it's like I get this little jolt of 'Hey! What's that?' excitement. Then, my brain kicks back in and I'm having to fight it off to get to sleep again."

"Want me to go into town and get you ear plugs or something?"

He smiled at the offer. "Nah, but thanks, Rae. I just gotta teach myself to ignore it; like when I first discovered laser pointers."

Raven could distinctly remember how much fun Cyborg had had watching Beast Boy chase the little red dots for a step or two before intellect won out over instinct. It had been funny until Dr. Light burned a small hole in his thigh that had taken Raven multiple days of healing to ensure there wouldn't be a scar.

"Wanna play?" He gestured at the screen with his controller.

"Not really."

"Can I use my last arcade coupon to get you to play?"

Raven gave a small, resigned smile. "Yes."

"Cool." He dug the slip of paper out of his pocket and tore it in half as had become their custom. She kept one half and he kept the other.

"At least it's the last video game one." She accepted the offered game controller and slid over next to him for a better view. "What're we playing?"

"Minecraft."

She felt a little confused "A German game?"

"What? No. It's actually Swedish, but it's mine, like mining for gold and craft like arts and crafts. You go around and collect stuff and use it to make cooler stuff and build things like castles and biodomes or whatever else you can think of and there's some bad guys, but they only come out at night."

"And you won't be trying to attack me the whole game like that other one we played?"

"Nah, that was a fighting game. You're supposed to attack the whole time. This is more about exploring, collecting, and building and then trying to survive when the bad guys show up. We work together."

Beast Boy had been playing through most of the night, so Raven was caught up to speed on how to play relatively quickly and safely as they hid in his hut.

The plan, he explained, was to get enough materials so that he could start building something that looked like the Tower with some other 'just for fun' buildings like a giant cube of tofu he'd already started making. To Raven it just looked like a white rectangle.

The game was easy enough to get into and Raven found the task-oriented style suited her limited video game skill set. Dig up a bunch of dirt, mine for the blocks that looked different than the rest, use what she'd gotten to make whatever they needed at the time, run inside at night.

She was digging for more iron ore so that they could make the iron blocks that Beast Boy wanted to do the main framework of the Tower in when Starfire called her name.

"Hm? What, Star?"

"I have asked if you are going to be done playing soon. You did not answer when I asked you an hour ago."

"I haven't been playing for over an hour. I just barely got here."

"Actually, Rae, we've been playing for about three hours." Beast Boy interjected. Seeing her shocked look at the TV he added, "Yeah, this game does that to people."

"But…we've barely finished anything."

"That's why it's so fun! You can make the game as long or as short as you want. If you want to make it about fighting, or about making crazy machines, or whatever, you just do it."

Half wanting to see the projects they'd started get completed, and half wanting to stop before she got sucked further in, Raven took a break by turning her full attention to Starfire.

"What's up, Star?"

She was smiling in a way that told Raven just how happy she was seeing her and Beast Boy together. "I would like to present your next gift." Beast Boy turned to look at the pair of them.

"Gifts?"

"She's giving me secret admirer gifts like she did last year."

"Oh, cool."

Starfire walked back to the kitchen counter to grab a card and wrapped package that looked identical to the one she'd gotten the day before. "It is fine if Beast Boy sees."

And just like yesterday, she left before Raven could do anything more than thank her as she flew off. Didn't she want to watch?

"So, what's inside?"

Raven undid the string, deciding to open the package first this time, and found another wooden box with a new word stenciled across the lid. This one read, 'Intelligence'. Inside she found an obviously expensive pen set with a couple packages of refills. The note with them said:

_So that your knowledge and wisdom may be recorded and I may learn from it._

"Huh. You write?" Beast Boy sounded like his brain was awake, but that his mouth was falling asleep.

"Not really, but…it's a nice thing for her to say. It wouldn't hurt to try at least."

"That's cool. What's the card say?"

_Raven,_

_I know that I do the annoying of you sometimes, but that is only because I wish to spend my time with you. I hope that you will continue to permit me._

_Your Secret Admirer_

Raven read out to him.

"That sounds nice." He gave a huge yawn. "I like that one."

Raven was smiling as she watched him fall asleep mid-conversation. She thought about getting up to turn off the game when he slid sideways with his head landing on her shoulder.

Now fighting a furious blush she pulled his controller into her hands and logged him out, deciding that since he hadn't slept she wouldn't risk waking him up by moving from where she was. At least, that's what she kept telling herself as she started looking for more coal so they could smelt all the glass they'd need for the Tower.

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Raven woke up feeling very comfortable and warm. It was one of the feelings she always cherished when it hit. Reveling in the serenity the common room provided early in the morning it took her a minute or two to recognize that she wasn't in her bed.

When she finally realized it, she found she was feeling too good to care. Instead she snuggled a little closer to Beast Boy and pulled the blanket over them tight against her neck.

It was a little more jarring to have her mind tap her on the shoulder and point out that she and Beast Boy didn't do things like this and that the others might have seen and that it was highly embarrassing. These concerns caused her eyes to shoot open.

She was starting to get a little panicked when she thought about where the blanket might have come from, but all through her growing anxiety was the constant thought, 'But he's so wonderfully warm.' And she found she still couldn't wrest herself from the situation.

Not being able to leave, but too awake to fall back asleep, she started making observations. Their positions had switched sometime during the night and now she was cradled against his chest. He was propped up against the back of the couch, a separation in the cushions keeping him from sliding off one way or the other. He had an arm around her, but she wasn't sure if he'd put it there or if she'd pulled it there for the additional heat.

She looked out the window to try and gage what time it might be, but it was still dark out. She gave herself a mental slap on the back of the head and looked at the clock on the DVD player instead. It was just past four.

She couldn't remember when she'd fallen asleep, but knew that Beast Boy had slumbered on against her shoulder while she'd continued to play the game. She was sure Cyborg had brought her food sometime and been sympathetic about her wish to not disturb their friend's rest. He'd joined her for a while in the game, but left some time in there. She'd need to tell Beast Boy that they'd finally found a video game she didn't mind playing.

Thinking through the day's events had relaxed her and allowed the wakefulness from her initial shock to slip away so that she was back to being just warm and comfortable.

She chose to let Beast Boy be the one to freak out about them falling asleep together and closed her eyes to let how nice she was feeling lull her back into a deep slumber. She vaguely noticed the sound of the common room doors swishing open.

"They're still asleep? It's good that Beast Boy finally passed out, but Raven's going to have a heart attack when she wakes up."

"She will be fine. I believe Beast Boy will find it more alarming. Has he truly not slept in three days?"

"Yeah, it's all this rain. The thunder really winds him up, but he says he's getting better at ignoring it. Supposed to start up again tonight though. Hope he's rested enough to take back the late night patrol. Nobody handles it as well as he does."

"Shall we meet for the breaking of fasts when I return?"

"Sure, Star. Thanks for covering my shift so I could cover his. You want me to make you anything special?"

"Actually, I would like to try making the French toast. I have practiced and believe I can prepare it without the fire extinguisher."

A soft laughter floated through the conversation. "I'm sure it'll be perfect, Star. See you in a few hours."

"First I must leave the gift for Raven."

Raven was caught half in dream and half paying attention. The pictures her mind kept conjuring as she hovered in the in between would start out as her normal dreams and then change into images of Robin and Starfire talking and kissing as Robin worked in the kitchen with a white apron on while Starfire straightened her tie, grabbed her briefcase, and gave her suit one last inspection before she went off to work. She faded more fully as the sounds in the kitchen went quiet.

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Raven woke up in earnest to find herself sprawled out on the couch still under the blanket she and Beast Boy had been sharing. She had a vague memory of Starfire talking about her next gift that she only remembered because said gift was staring at her from the coffee table.

She reached an arm out from under the covers and took the card that was leaning against the brown package. It was silly, but she wanted to hold onto the memory of the warmth from the night as long as possible, so she tucked her arm back under the covers leaving just hands sticking out to open the card.

_Raven,_

_You are very special person, and I hope that you feel the same as I do._

_Your Secret Admirer_

She really needed to start teaching Starfire how to word things better. Her grasp of meanings was fine, but she could absolutely mangle her phrasing.

She didn't want to pull her arm back out from the covers and just used her powers to take the paper off and float the box over to her waiting hands; 'Unique' was stenciled on it.

The box felt empty, but inside was a ring that looked like it was woven together. When she lifted the dainty thing out of the box that was much too large for it, it fell apart. The ring seemed to be made from several very thin rings that had fit together to make the full ring; at least all the thin parts were linked so that she didn't drop any when it came undone.

She set the jumble of small hoops back into the box and retrieved the note from inside.

_This is a puzzle ring. It can be reformed in a number of ways, but only one is as lovely as you._

Raven stared at the note. It didn't feel like Starfire's usual sentiment, simply because there was a little too much sentiment in it. Wondering what she'd meant about the ring, she pulled it back out and started to play with it.

The closer she looked, the more she realized just how clever the little thing was. The individual bits were very wavy in their design which allowed for them to fit snuggly together when she got it just right. There were a few features that made it easier to figure out which part of each loop should be at the top, and when she'd worked her way through a couple of solutions she saw that there were markings on the outer part of the loops.

She continued to rearrange the bits over and over again, trying to get the markings to line up with each other. When she finally got it solved, Starfire's message suddenly made a great deal more sense and fit perfectly with the way Starfire thought. The etchings spelled out her name along with the words from the boxes she'd gotten so far.

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That night at dinner, she was showing off her new jewelry to Cyborg.

"Silver? Nice. But won't all those thin bits break if you play with it too much?"

"I thought about that too, but when I looked it up online it said puzzle rings had been around for a long time and are even made of gold."

"That's pretty impressive to get something that frail looking strong enough. Maybe I should get back into studying metallurgy."

"It's just a ring."

"Come on, Rob, even you got to admit it's cool."

"Sure it is, but Raven's one of the few of us who can actually wear normal jewelry. It gets in the way of my stuff, you have to design yours yourself and it's all got magnets, and Beast Boy and Star both destroy anything they wear."

"I was most sad that the ring you got for me melted."

"It was my fault, Star. I wasn't thinking about your starbolts when I bought it. A necklace might work though."

"Hey, remember that necklace I got in that box of Cracker Jacks? We got a call and when I changed into a rhino it exploded and hit See-more right in the eye."

"Best Cracker Jack prize you ever got. We were done in less than ten minutes because he just gave up in trade for an eyewash."

"Yeah, and because Gizmo couldn't stop laughing. Only Mammoth gave us any trouble."

"Hey, Star? How'd you afford a ring like this, anyway?"

"It was no cost I minded."

"Wasn't it expensive? When I was reading about them I saw some of the prices places charge for something like this."

"I promise you, Raven, it cost me very little to give you that ring. In fact, it has cost me so little I feel that I must give you your next present most promptly."

"You really don't have to, Star. I'm already feeling like I need to pay you back, and I don't have the shopping connections you do."

"That is most silly. You need to pay me nothing. I have done very little and wish you to only enjoy what I give. Please accept this, but open it within your room."

"Really, Star, maybe you should…"

"Take this and go open it. I will not accept any other answer than 'yes, Starfire, I shall go right now.'"

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Did she really have to threaten her until she'd said it? Raven found it half intimidating and half endearing that Starfire could be so forceful about all of this. At least she had told her there was only one more present after this one. It'd be nice when this was all over so that she could figure out how to repay her friend's generosity.

The letter was more of the same, a couple of sentences in Starfire's odd cadence.

_Raven,_

_This present is meant to do the preparing of you for the final present. Please do not be alarmed, as all shall be explained._

_Your Secret Admirer_

'Love' read the top of the box and Raven was glad she'd read the card first. Her mind drifted back to a lazy day conversation they'd had where Starfire had talked about her love for her friends.

_So that you may know you are loved._

The paper inside covered whatever the present was. When she moved it out of the way her breath caught for a moment. Underneath were photos, each showing some candid shot of her with a single word caption. 'Beautiful' said one with her just coming out of meditation. 'Intelligent' said another showing her turning a page in a book. 'Caring' another read that was from the party she'd helped throw for Melvin last year. 'Amazing' read one showing her eyes glowing bright as a car levitated in the foreground.

On and on they went like that. The only thing she couldn't figure out about them was when they'd been taken. She never allowed anyone to take her picture unless it was a group shot and yet all of these looked not only like they were all close-ups, but they were fairly recent as well. Starfire must have been planning this year's gifts since last year.

The flood of emotions that hit her caused her to quickly leave her room in search of the redhead. She found her in her own room and as soon as Starfire had answered the door she grabbed her in a fierce hug.

"Thank you."

Starfire laughed delightedly at Raven's show of emotion. "You are most welcome. You are enjoying the gifts then? I am allowed to finish giving them?"

"It's not fair, Starfire. I haven't done anything this nice to you. I don't know if I ever could."

Starfire smiled kindly. "You do not need to, Raven. You are my friend and I believe that to be a truly wonderful gift. When I was the secret admirer last year I gave you the gift of knowing that you liked friend Beast Boy. I would give him to you if he were mine to give. I enjoy your happiness."

Raven gave her another hug. "You're one of my best friends, Star. Don't let me do anything stupid to break that."

"Raven, not even the end of the world could end our friendship."

Raven laughed weakly at the joke.

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Raven woke early the next morning to a short set of taps on her door. When she looked out to see who had come so early the only thing she found was an envelope on the floor. She smiled at it as she bent down to pick it up and walked back to her bed. A swell of emotion hit as she thought about Starfire's wonderful gifts and about the talking they'd done late into the night. With a sigh that tried to speak a thousand thoughts racing through her mind she started to read the letter.

_Raven,_

_Don't get mad, but Starfire isn't your secret admirer. I asked her to help me because I knew it was the best way to keep you from figuring out what I was doing. You've met my dad, how about we go see my mom today? It's a really special day to her. Meet me at my dad's old office at noon. You won't be able to find me before then._

_Your Secret Admirer, Garfield_

If it hadn't already been a dark and stormy night Raven might have fallen into catatonic shock. The thunder that rattled her windows caught her attention and she saw her clock blissfully unaware of her inner turmoil as it glowed softly in the dark; its only thought: six a.m.

Raven bolted out of her room straight to Beast Boy's door where she pounded on it twice before opening it. The room was empty. Not bothering to follow the hallways, Raven phased straight through the walls into the common room.

Other than a worn looking Robin, the room was empty. "Where's Beast Boy? I want to know right now or I just might get violent."

Robin looked up from the coffee mug he'd been vacantly staring into. "What? Why's everybody after Beast Boy today? First Star comes in with his communicator saying something about him going off the grid for a bit and then Cyborg came storming in saying Beast Boy had disabled the security cameras for an hour or two."

Raven didn't care that Robin was calling after her as she phased through the walls again to pull up in front of Starfire's door. She knocked rather loudly. "Starfire if you don't answer I'm going to be very upset."

"I am not inside of my room."

Raven spun around to see the alien floating with a playfully smug smile on her face. "Where is he?"

"Making the preparations I believe. He was most secretive about this part of his plan."

"You lied to me."

"I have done no lying, I have only refused to correct you. I was most glad to give all of those gifts from Beast Boy to you. And they truly cost me very little." Seeing Raven's scowl growing deeper she decided not to tease her any more. "As I told you last night, were he mine to give he would be yours. I cannot give him to you, but I have happily helped him give of himself."

"I will get you back for this."

Starfire smiled. "I will look forward to it."

Remembering clearly the frustration of trying to find Beast Boy last year, and knowing just how much more careful he'd been in covering his trail this year, Raven decided to just wait and meet him when and where he'd suggested.

She was feeling so frazzled. First there was the draining emotional experience that thinking Starfire had made that photo collection for her had caused, then they'd spent way too much time talking late into the night, and then she'd been woken up early on top of it all. She needed more sleep, but the only thing she could get herself to do that didn't leave her trying to wrap her mind around what was happening and what her presents had really meant – and those letters! – was that stupid block game she'd started to get addicted to.

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"Maybe there's something in her room that'll bring her out of it. I'll go check."

Raven snapped back to reality. "Stay out of my room."

Cyborg smiled serenely in response. "Thought that might work…so, you gonna tell us what happened now?"

"Yes, Raven, what has had you doing the space staring?" Starfire asked as she swooped close to Raven's face; I don't think she ever understood the concept of personal space.

Hiding her confusion Raven gave off an aloof air and said, "What?" as she leaned away from the engaging alien.

"Well," Robin said, sounding cautious, "the pizza just showed up and when I came to get you, you were just standing there, looking dazed, and I couldn't get you to come out of it."

"The rest of us just came to see what was taking so long." Cyborg added giving her a look that implied it was her turn to explain.

"I was meditating, it's a new technique," she quickly invented as she edged back into her room, "I'll be down after I finish."

Robin's "but…" was answered by the soft click of the door closing.

Raven pulled the statue of a woman on a horse leading a charge into battle and the note she had hidden under her cloak with a strong sense of déjà vu. And knowing just how volatile her powers could get in moments of stress Raven tried to figure out if what she'd seen was a premonition or if she'd just dreamed it all out of shock.

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(A/N) Growing up, I was a huge fan of the short story "The Lady or the Tiger". I loved the idea of a story that gave you this wonderful set up with all of this insight into what the characters were like and then cut you off to let you try and imagine which of the two possibilities would be the actual outcome. It's such a delicious bit of psychological drama because no matter which way you choose the protagonist to end up on you didn't get a happy ending.

The important thing to remember when reading stories of that type is that they are short. This one isn't, so you might notice there's another separator bar below this and additional text. Enjoy the conclusion of the chapter.

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Raven woke with a jolt feeling highly disoriented and confused. Seeing as she'd awoken in the common room it was hard for her to figure out what was going on. The ring on her hand reminded her what was real and she silently cursed her subconscious for giving her such a terrible dream.

Then another jolt of anxiety hit as she looked at the clock, feeling like she'd overslept and missed her meeting with Beast Boy. She was horrified to see that it was already four in the afternoon.

"Oh, hey, you're awake."

She turned her bleary eyes to Beast Boy who was sitting next to her. Her mind was still shaking off sleep and it took her a moment to finish processing everything. "I'm so sorry, Beast Boy. Did I ruin what you had planned? I was really looking forward to it."

He gave a gentle laugh and handed her a game controller. "You didn't ruin anything. To be honest, I was here when you passed out." When Raven eyed him stonily he went on. "You could say I had you bugged."

Taking the joystick and joining him inside the virtual world next to the ground floor of their Tower project, Raven let the ebb and flow of playing with virtual Lego blocks distract her while she finished waking up.

"Having Starfire write all the letters and give me all the presents was a dirty trick."

"Yeah, but it was a dirty trick that worked."

"True."

"It surprised me that you didn't figure it out earlier."

"Why?"

"Brown paper packages, tied up with string? I thought it was a big hint."

"Of course you'd put a reference to 'The Sound of Music' in wrapping paper."

"I was tricking you about my mom, too."

"That's…maybe you shouldn't have with something like that."

Beast Boy shrugged as he shot arrows into a zombie that was chasing him. "Needed a way to get you to go out with me on Valentine's Day."

Raven flipped a lever to open up a trench around the house they were hiding in. "It's Valentine's Day?"

"Yup."

"I didn't notice." Beast Boy gave a disbelieving chuckle. "I didn't. There were…distractions."

"Good distractions?"

"The best." She slid over to be a little more firmly next to him. "What happens now?"

"Well, I was thinking dinner and a movie. Something at the drive-in; watching the screen would be optional."

Raven's cheeks turned scarlet but she managed to keep herself from smiling. "What's playing?" She could see him grinning out of the corner of her eye.

"Glorious! Now do the kissing!"

Beast Boy and Raven both jumped off the couch at the sudden burst of noise. He'd ducked behind the coffee table and she had a black glow around her hands ready for a fight. "Don't DO that, Star! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

Starfire clapped her hands in front of her smiling face. "It is most wonderful that you are both happy with one another, but you must do the sealing with a kiss!"

"Come on, Star, we should leave them alone now."

"But, Robin," she started pouting, "they have not done the kissing yet."

"Rob's right, Star. Leave 'em alone for now. It's not like they'll be able to keep their hands off each other for very long."

"Did you guys really just hide here to see us kiss?"

"Uh…I didn't, B., but Star wanted to and I was just tagging along."

"But, Cyborg! You found us that most advantageous hiding spot saying that we would see everything."

Cyborg backed away with a guilty grin. Beast Boy's angry look was starting to move from chiding to serious.

"Don't worry, guys, we're leaving. Come on, Star, just follow Cyborg to his new hiding spot in the garage and we can go to that restaurant I told you about."

"No kissing?" Robin shook his head. "We shall have to provide our own example then."

Robin gave a cough. "Once we're alone."

She smiled deviously as he took her hand to lead her out of the room.

"Bye, guys. Thanks for not spying on us the whole even-mPH!"

Raven couldn't take it anymore. One little kiss. One half-second long peck was all she'd gotten in a year of pining after Beast Boy. She'd been patient enough and was through with waiting. It didn't matter if it was being nationally televised; she was getting that kiss _now_.

Her arms were wrapped tight around Beast Boy's neck as she finally let her lips taste as much of his as she'd imagined herself doing more than she cared to admit. The Tower around them faded out of existence as Beast Boy started to return the passion she was showing. His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her tight to him.

"Whoa."

Starfire gave a little 'teehee' at Cyborg's reaction. "Now we may go. Cyborg, you are welcome to join us at the restaurant, though we must excuse ourselves afterwards. Robin has promised me a surprise."

"Yeah, sure." Cyborg started walking mechanically to the door, glancing over his shoulder on his way through. "Dang."

"I believe you should have said the 'booyah'."

The room had been quiet for a number of minutes before they broke apart. Raven didn't let go of her hold of Beast Boy's neck, but found it hard to look at his face without blushing and smiling. "Sorry. I've wanted to do that for a while."

"Sorry? You don't ever have to be sorry about that. That…was amazing."

"You know, we don't have to go out to watch a movie we won't see."

Beast Boy gave a laugh as they moved over to the couch. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"

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(A/N) And that's the big finish. You know, I wrote out more than one ending. I didn't like the feel of the first one, started to rewrite it a little, and then decided it just wasn't right and deleted it to write this one.

And I honestly did consider ending the story at that fake story ending. I thought it would be such a delightfully sneaky thing to do – having the entire story loop back on itself and end where it started. I really have enjoyed "The Lady or the Tiger" since I was a kid.

The solution to the code in chapter 3 as well as a few other bits are going in an addendum that should be showing up the same time as this chapter.


	14. Addendum

(A/N) This whole chapter is an author's note.

Disclaimer – The ideas in here are all mine, but the Teen Titans still aren't.

A Year In The Life – Addendum – Final thoughts are so, you know, final. Let's call them closing words. (Craig Armstrong)

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

There's three bits to this addendum. 1.) The chapter 3 code solution, 2.) The bit that nobody noticed, and 3.) My original outline from four years ago. (plus notes)

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THE CHAPTER 3 CODE SOLUTION

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Because April's chapter was going to be a kind of mystery, I used a code I'd come up with a while ago to encode the disclaimer. What it translates to is this:

I DON'T OWN THE TEEN TITANS. WHAT, I'M RICH NOW OR SOMETHING?

It is that exactly, punctuation and all.

It is solved like this. Take the first jumble of letters "EkjpigZAfnBMoDEHlRstUVqWXCY". As one of the people who made an attempt to crack the code noticed, there are words mixed in. This example has "pig", "mode", and the name "Hirst". These words are red herrings. Instead, pay attention to the fact that this has all the letters of the alphabet ("E" is duplicated) and some of the letters are capitalized and some are not.

If you take a 5x5 grid you could put each letter in order inside each square leaving "Z" out of consideration for now. After doing that, color in the squares that have a capital letter in them and you have the letter "I" in a very simple font. Each jumble of letters is solved like that.

A few of the jumbles don't show the letters that are capitalized or don't show the lower case letters. The solution still works if you go with the assumption that everything that isn't showing is the opposite of what is showing.

The code could be made much more difficult to break by making the letters in the jumbles work in a three state system. Lower case equals a white (blank) square, upper case equals a black (solid) square, and missing equals a grey (in between) square. Using this type of setup gives you a large number of jumbles to use for each letter, which greatly increases the difficulty to crack it. It's also harder to code messages yourself with things more complex because for a jumble to equal a real symbol (letter, punctuation, whatever) it can't accidentally equal another symbol. Valid jumbles would need for one of the three colors to make the symbol, but it doesn't matter which color it is as long as there's only one solution for the jumble with the symbol set you're using.

Technically, what I posted is a cipher as there's only one jumble for each letter (though they can be arranged any way you like since the order doesn't matter). This more complex variation is a code since there's more possible meaning behind each jumble.

And "Z"? Its purpose is actually something I'm fairly proud of with this thing. "Z" tells you whether or not a space comes after the symbol it's mixed in with. Lower case, leave no space, capitalized, mind the gap.

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THE BIT THAT NOBODY NOTICED

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I tend to vary my separator bars each story/chapter since I don't really have a default one. That changed towards the end of this fic. I started using:

This is Morse code. It reads: "I DON'T OWN THE TEEN TITANS. I OWN A PAIR OF SHOES."

I was sure somebody would notice.

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MY ORIGINAL OUTLINE FROM FOUR YEARS AGO

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Holiday Series

February, Valentine's Day – Accidental Fluff - Starfire seeks to show Raven her admiration in secret, Raven mistakes it for Beast Boy. _(Didn't change anything here because I wrote this chapter when I wrote the outline. The first chapter's idea is what spawned the rest of the story in my mind.)_

March, St. Patrick's Day – Action - Beast Boy's favorite holiday, he gets asked to be the master of ceremonies for the parade, Johnny Rancid tries to destroy it. _(I expanded this idea to include a few other villains, but this was also written back when I first started the fic.)_

April, Easter – Comedy/Mystery - It was Robin's turn to hide the eggs; he did it a little too well. _(The chapter that I got stuck on and took a break from writing before coming back to it four years later.)_

May, Memorial Day – Sadness/Memories – This is in honor of all the super heroes who have fallen in battle. _(Tricky chapter to write. I've got family who served in the military.)_

June, Father's Day – Fluff - Raven's always had difficulty with this holiday, go figure. _(My original idea was pretty darn vague, but I really liked how the chapter turned out.)_

July, Independence Day – Action – Mad Mod tries to fix a past failure while Punk Rocket tries to bring the joy of anarchy to Jump City. The Titans are caught in the crossfire as the two villains turn on each other. _(This was fun to write.)_

August, Friendship Day – Silly - Starfire gets overly excited about the earth day that matches the Tamaranean one. _(I abandoned my original idea for this chapter, giving it a nod all the same. It just didn't work well since Friendship Day doesn't really have much going for it stateside yet.)_

September, Labor Day – Fluff - Since it's one of their slowest days of the year, it's time for the yearly deep clean of the tower. _(I've actually written a one-shot a lot like this chapter. I never finished it, so it was never posted. I didn't realize I was subconsciously plagiarizing myself till this was nearly complete. This chapter was also written mostly four years ago.)_

October, Halloween – Action/Comedy - Imposter Titans, too many Mumbo Jumbos, and a sugar rush Al Gore would be proud of. _(I completely gave up on this idea when the concept for a Cyborg chapter came to me. I was glad I made the switch.)_

November, Thanksgiving – Insanity - Just let my imagination get a little out of control; think "Depth Takes a Holiday". _(As already seen in the chapter's closing author's note.)_

December, Christmas – Fluff - Secret Santa and when Raven has Beast Boy, she has no idea what to get him. _(Another really vague idea that I fleshed out as I wrote it. It stumped me for a while on how to proceed because I couldn't make up my mind whose actions I wanted to follow.)_

January, New Years Day – Fluff - It's traditional to kiss the girl or guy you're next to at the stroke of midnight. _(Abysmally vague. I rewrote a one-shot I never posted that I thought would work perfectly for this. People seem to like the chapter, so I think it worked.)_

February, St. Valentine's Day – Fluff Fulfillment - Starfire makes it a tradition, except this time it really is Beast Boy pulling the strings. _(When I originally wrote this outline I was excited about getting to write this chapter. I've always enjoyed getting Raven wrong-footed, and this was such a great setup.)_

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And that's it. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed my strange little bits here.


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